2002 Sadie Family Columella

Community Tasting Notes (11) Avg Score: 92.5 points

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  11/14/2023 - Riaan Likes this wine: 99 Points

  Dinner with friends visiting from out of town.
  
  Easy WOTN despite some serious competition from the Huilkrans, 2010 Porseleinberg, and 1998 Palmer.
  
  3rd vintage Columella. Amazing drinking condition but still so much life and energy. This will keep going for a while that’s for sure. Fruit. Power. Elegance. Absolutely delightful.
  
  Columella is seriously underrated in its youth, but this shows what it can do with a bit of age.

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  1/19/2020 - aquacongas wrote: 95 Points

  Columella complete Vertical Tasting (Fritz Frau Frazi Düsseldorf): First of all it was an amazing tasting. No bottle was corked or defective. We double decanted all bottles. We drank one bottle after one. No flights. We started with the bold years but they were so good that I changed the order after 6 vintages and I mixed the elegant years in between. All old bottles delivered phantastically.
  
  The order
  
  2005
  
  Still primary fruit, very balanced, starting to reach his peak, silky tannins, alcohol well integrated. 93+
  
  2003 DMG
  
  From this size really fresh, black berries, a bit plums, soft tannins, you feel the hot vintage but not marmelade style, easy to drink and not over the top. 92-93
  
  2007 MG
  
  Still some oaky notes, much fruit, somehow one dimensional and missing a bit the refreshing acidity. I would prefer 03 as a warm vintage. 90
  
  2002
  
  Very reluctant, it reminds me to a classic Bordeaux vintage, even the nose shows black currant and cedar wood. Delicate and elegant. Even it was one of your first vintages it is a masterpiece, really not bold and broad. At least 10 more years. Great. 95-96
  
  2001
  
  Great structure and ultra fresh, firm tannins. It needs decantation. Lovely fruitieness and some herbal notes. A decade ahead. 94+
  
  2004
  
  I had this wine a few times before. Always delivering as today again. Fresh, elegant, decanted for 2 hours, reminds me to a very good Northern Rhone wine. Great acidity structure. White pepper, dark berries, saline and firm and ripe tannins. No hurry to finish it. For many in the group WOTN. 94-95
  
  2011
  
  Maybe this bottle was not perfect, a bit clumsy and some acetone
  
  2016
  
  3 hours decantation, ultra fresh and young. Very accessible and a pure fruit. Reminds many friends to a great Burgundy, I would go for a great CF from the Loire as Clos Rougeard. Graceful 95++
  
  2014
  
  2 hours of decanation. Fresh, accessible, evrybody's darling from the beginning. Tannins soft, great refreshing acidity, very balanced. 94
  
  2000
  
  Lovely, lean, still primary fruit, spicy, pepper, dark cherries, precise finish. Starting to reach his peak. At least 5-7 more yeras ahead. 94+
  
  2006
  
  A bit broad and wild. A lot of fruit but missing structure and substance for a further aging. 90
  
  2008
  
  Balanced, in a really nice drinking window, reluctant fruit but cracking acidity. 93
  
  2009
  
  A bit broad, a lot fruit, alcohol perceptible, somehow one dimensional. 91
  
  2013
  
  Fine, elegant, great structure, a lot of acidity, reduced fruit, spicy, a monster, precise finish. A lot to come in next 2 decades. 3 hours decantation. 95+
  
  2012
  
  Powerful and fruit dominated, less concentrated than 2013. Balanced, niice drinking window. 92
  
  2015
  
  Compared to 2013 a bit more "alcoholic" and not the finesse but still powerful and spicy Northern Rhone wine. Only 1 hour of decantion. Maybe this was the "problem".94+
  
  2010
  
  Still young, Many in the group are flashed from this wine, for me a bit short in the finish. Not completely balanced at this stage. I guess maybe in a closed window. Great structure. 92
  
  2017
  
  3 hours of decantation. Fresh, alcohol percetible, maybe it was a lot of alcohol at the end of the tasting, nicely balanced in fruit and acidity, great length, precise. 93+
  
  My Top 5
  
  2002, 2016, 2001, 2013, 2000

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  12/28/2015 - Zweder wrote: 92 Points

  Weekly tasting group #198; a mixed set of more or less special wines. (@ DJ): In the bouquet dark cherries and dark forest fruits, sweet spices, some licorice and coffee. On the palate ripe dark berries, sweet spices, vanilla, coffee, a lot of sweetness, but also good acidity and soft, round tannin. Overall this is a beautiful and mature wine with still a few years of future.

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  12/25/2015 - hughe wrote: 92 Points

  Youthful clean reminiscent of northern rhone very nice

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  2/7/2015 - Giggs wrote: 93 Points

  Decanted 30 minutes, though hardly any sediment for a 13-year-old wine. Like other Columellas, this has juicy blackberry fruit, heavily-spiced toasted oak, and dark chocolate. The finish is slightly green and bitter, but that "fault" actually gives the wine added personality. Good stuff, drinking well now. Drink now-2017.

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