Roast lamb and 20 year old Columella

What to drink with a treasured old bottle of wine is one of the most frequent questions I get asked and the answer I usually give is ‘keep it simple’

At a post-tasting lunch with the Wine Society at their Stevenage HQ the other day they did exactly that serving a perfectly judged main course of roast lamb, mash and simply cooked heritage carrots and broccoli with a 20 year old bottle of Columella from Eben Sadie, only the second vintage of this iconic wine. There was also a port-based sauce but the sweetness was cleverly kept in check.

The wine, one of the original reds that put Swartland on the map, was a Syrah-dominated mourvèdre blend and still drinking perfectly. The most recent vintage - which the Society is now unable to import directly - also includes grenache, carignan, cinsault and tinta barocca but any good grenache or GSM blend would work equally well as would a northern Rhône syrah* or a mature Bordeaux.

You can buy the 2018 vintage of the Columella from Philglas and Swiggott for £94.95, an indication of how much in demand Sadie’s wines now are.

* If you’re a member of the Wine Society try the Côte Rôtie-like Domaine Cuilleron Signé Syrah-Viognier 2018 I tasted which is brilliant value at £14.95 and would age for a good few years too.

I had lunch as a guest of the Wine Society