Ana Kalander Badenhorst turns One!

Many congratulations and happy wishes to the Badenhorst Family on the first birthday of the most beautiful little girl.
Ana celebrated her 1st birthday om Tuesday on the farm, surrounded by loved ones and friends.

Love from Winchester

Stone Vine and Sun raves about the Secateurs Chenin 2009:

Here is a terrific wine we haven’t been able to recommend as we would have liked to, as most of our first shipment vanished very fast: we have just had more in from the Cape.  It’s a wine which is ripe and rich enough to make a terrific aperitif, but also has weight and complexity to ensure it can stand up to strong-flavoured food, either fish or fowl.

We always said we would keep an eye on the ebullient, fascinatingly hairy, parrot-breeder Adie Badenhorst, who was the chief winemaker at Rustenberg. He surfaced last year with a decrepit winery and some family-owned land on the Paardeberg. This wine is from dry-farmed old Chenin Blanc vines in Swartland: to us it has a wonderful texture and displays exotic fruit with honey and even marzipan nuances, but here are a couple of press recommendations, the first from the August 2010 report of The Wine Gang, and the second by Jancis Robinson last year.

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AA Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2009

Swartland, South Africa

Dry White (Screwcap), 14.0% abv

Secateurs, made from vines over 40 years old, is Adi Badenhorst's second wine – second in the sense of ranking rather than chronology – and it's both extremely good and good value. It's rich and fleshy with tropical, peachy fruit and nutty richness lifted by vivacious citrus and mineral flavours.

Score:   90/100 

One of this month's Bunch of Five Best Value Wines

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A A Badenhorst, Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2009 Swartland

8 Nov 2009 by JR

RS 2 g/l
A fabulous bargain. Very fresh, floral and honeyed with masses of intensity and flavour (presumably because of the age of the vines) but with a satisfyingly dry finish. VGV. 2009 to 2011.  17/20

Still on top!

Neil Pendock adds his voice to the choir of experts singing praises at Adi's entry into this years Cape Winemakers Guild Auction taking place this weekend. 


According to his blog on times live, "with first places from Christian Eeds, Christine Rudman, Tim James and I, Adi can safely be declared the Pundit’s Pick for the CWG Auction.."


The A.A. Badenhorst Family Noble Late Harvest Kalmoesfontein Vol. 2 Cape Winemakers Guild Coastal Region 2008 goes on auction this Saturday at the Spier Conference Centre.


For more info, go to their website.

Family first

September issue of Winelands Magazine features an article on the Tonnellerie Bordelaise family, this French oak barrel company has added us to their makeshift family tree since Cornelia Badenhorst's sister, Hanle and her hubby Mark are the South African Agents, based in Stellenbosch.

Besides having Adi, Cornelia and her dad Jan Boland Coetzee on a branch of their family tree, the article covers some nice insights, not to mention a pic of Hanle and Mark's beautiful family.

Leading another pack... The CWG Auction wines.

James Molesworth reviews the wines on auction at the 2010 Cape Winemakers Guild auction [a small-production showcase of wines from some of South Africa’s top winemakers.] on Winespectator.com

He puts our Noble Late Harvest Kalmoesfontein Vol. 2 Cape Winemakers Guild Coastal Region 2008 in the lead and says:

“The wine shows gorgeous aromas and flavors, all while staying fresh and racy, despite obvious weight and power. While owner and winemaker Adi Badenhorst is just entering the U.S. market with his red and white Rhône blends, his late-harvest Sémillon is a rare treasure worth chasing after.”

Read the entire article on www.winespectator.com.

James Molesworth is the senior editor who champions and critiques the wines of Argentina, Bordeaux, Chile, the Finger Lakes, the Loire, the Rhône and South Africa.

The Cape Winemaker’s Guild Auction  (as reported in July) is scheduled for Saturday, October 2nd, and the auctiongives a peek into the behind-the-scenes experimentation of a small group of South African winemakers, mostly representing the current generation that is helping to push quality higher.

The auction is open to the public, and if you want to become a bidder you can register at www.capewinemakersguild.com. 

Get your fuel...

This month's grapefuel newsletter features an amazing deal on our Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2010.


Buy a box of six for only R363.76, online...


Click here for more details, and enjoy!

Starting a global conversion, one white at a time..?

Lettie Teague, wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal, believes in South African whites again, ever since she tasted our  2009 Secateurs Chenin Blanc. 

She goes as far as calling it "a small start on a global Chenin conversion."

READ IT HERE...

Cheers to that, and happy weekend!

New Vintages on sale NOW...

Our new vintages have hit stores and restaurants all over the world.

The AA Badenhorst Red Blend 2007 vintage and White Blend 2008 vintage 
as well as the Secateurs Red Blend 2009 and Chenin Blanc 2010 
are available NOW.


For fact sheets on these wines visit OUR ARCHIVE
for outlets that sell our wines, visit OUR WEBSITE

Part of another great family

The &Union guys have officially welcomed us to their family. Our limited edition Papegaai white blend is reviewed  by &Union wine guy... 

Read more here.

Adi in Edinburgh...

If you are in Edinburgh around the 26th of October, try to attend the South African Wine Maker Dinner at the Forth Floor Restaurant.

Tuesday 26 October 7pm

The Forth Floor Restaurant is proud to welcome Adi Badenhorst from Badenhorst Family Wines and Albie Koch of De Toren to guide you through a tasting of some of the best wines from their estates. 


They will share their experiences and insight into how they produce these stunning wines, all while enjoying a 4 course dinner specially created for the evening by Executive Chef, Stuart Muir.  An evening not to be missed...
£55 per person.


For more information or to make a reservation, please contact reception
on 0131 524 8350.


http://www.harveynichols.com/output/Page131.asp 

To be tweeted...

Adi received this mail from Molly Choi at Cape Classics:

Heads up, you're on Twitter!

James Molesworth just tweeted “Back to the tasting room, for more South Africa... last of the whites for my annual report, along with some Pinotage and Syrah....”

And then Tim Atkin asked “Best wines? New finds?”

JM responded “Red and white Rhônes coming on nicely. Chamonix improved markedly. Badenhorst, Mullineux, Shannon & de Morgenzon notable newbies.”

Tim responded “All good producers. De Morgenzon play music to their vines. Worth a visit.”

:)

James Molesworth is the Senior Editor for Wine Spectator in New York City.

Tim Atkin is one of Britain's leading wine writers. He is the wine critic of The Times' The Table supplement.

Wines of South Africa on show in the UK, October 2010

Wines of South Africa will be showing some of the 2010 vintages in Edinburgh and London in October 2010.

South Africa – A Decade On
The South African wine industry has arguably gone through more change in the last ten years than any other wine producing nation. As the country comes down from the high of hosting the FIFA World Cup and is still basking in the most positive global image to date, we take time to reflect on the past ten years and ask what the future holds.  Wine industry pioneers Kevin Arnold, Peter Finlayson, Kathy Jordan and Adi Badenhorst will present wines that encapsulate the developments of the industry and give their own personal views and experiences on how South African wine has been transformed. 

Places are limited for the seminar, so please book your place if you would like to attend. 

Venue: The Merchants’ Hall, 22 Hanover Street, Edinburgh Date:  Monday 25th October 2010 Time:  10am – 5pm Venue:  The Great Halls, Vinopolis, No. 1 Bank End, London Date: Thursday 28th October Trade tasting: 10.30am – 5pm Trade and media only  Read more here...

searching for the American dream, from the top of the Paardeberg...

Adi chats to Neil Pendock about his recent trip to the United States, and the dream of breaking into the American market with a small South African brand.

From Pendock's blog on Times Live...

Is selling wine in the US any different to selling wine in SA?

Not many people in the US know who Tin Tin is, but the principles remain the same - building relationships for the long term and working with people you like. These people must understand your wines/story/philosophy and be able to relate to these, in your absence, to the consumers. And, of course, you want good wine ratings.

Do blends work in the US?

Our two premium wines under the AA Badenhorst range are both blends - a red and a white - and the response to these was fantastic. At the price they are selling in the US, they will probably move mainly through the restaurant trade, and blends give sommeliers a lot more to say to entice their customers. Blends allow sommeliers and restaurant owners to see another side of South African wines and realise it's not only the wines from Europe that show the nuances of terroir.

Why did you decide to DIY and not sign up with a distributor, such as Cape Classics?

We have signed up with Broadbent Selections and a South African company, Knauth and Visser, which, like us, is a small company. But we share the same vision for our wines.

What do Americans make of SA wines?

There is a tremendous amount of interest in the wines coming out of SA. The enthusiasm is contagious and all of the people I met, from big specialist wine stores to the tiniest of restaurants, want to know more about South Africa and its wines. My feeling is that South Africa is ideally poised to make a bigger impact in this market than any of the other so-called new-world producers.

Did the 2010 Fifa World Cup raise American awareness of SA wines?

Without a doubt. With so many of the World Cup participants being wine-producing countries, most of the wine outlets ran concurrent tastings during the particular countries' games.