Revving up for another Revolution...

We are once again in full swing planning the Swartland Revolution. After the overwhelming success of the inaugural Revolution, this year promises to be bigger and better.


With 250 tickets available there will not only be more guests, but more tastings and more goodies and fun entertainment awaits you, come 11/11/11.


This year's tastings (three, compared to two last year) includes a Friday afternoon tasting by Olivier Clape presenting six of his world class French wines. On Saturday there will be a tasting of eight wines from the local Mullineux Cellar as well as a tasting with wine journalist Jamie Goode (all the way from London) and Michael Fridjhon, a revolution favourite. They will treat us to four of their favourite wines each.


As they say, dont fix it if it aint broken; so celeb chef Reuben Riffel will once again be in charge of the braai tongs on Friday night while local hero Mynardt Joubert and the team at Bar Bar Black Sheep will have to pull out all the stops to top their Festival Feast from 2010 for lunch on Saturday.


And finally, a new poster has arrived... 

For the entire programme of events, click here!


Hope to see you in the Swartland in November!

The Adi, Eben and Luke Show @ The Test Kitchen this winter

Winter just warmed up a little! 


News has arrived that Adi, along with neighbour, friend and fellow wine rock star Eben Sadie will join exciting and much talked about, award-winning chef, Luke Dale Roberts at his restaurant The Test Kitchen for a winter pairing programme!


Yes, a definite reason to get excited. 



Eben, Adi and Luke have had extensive tastings in order to try to find the perfect combination of dishes such as Luke's seared tuna with sotf dashi jelly, soy milk yuba and caviar or foie gras tiramisu, or the newly developed sweetbread and truffle jagerbomb.


This collaboration will see these maverick winemakers joining Luke in the kitchen to experiment with ingredients and combinations to produce a menu that will be unlike anything else on offer: a food and wine lover’s dream!



Eben and Adi will be showcasing there top drawer wines and other “secret wines” that have not been available to the general public.



Luke explains: "I'm excited that we are going into winter. Eben and Adi are inspirational wine makers that push the limits of creativity, they are not afraid to take risks and I respect that very much. We have a good chemistry and I am inspired to be working with other exciting, creative individuals in addition to my team. That's what its all about. Wood is also a great new component that I'm enjoying using, like the velouté I'm making with American oak and bourbon accompanying my new tongue dish. Its great to slow down just a little and get seriously creative for the cooler months".


This gastronomic adventure will continue The Test Kitchen’s reputation of being at the forefront of exciting fine dining and will highlight the symbiotic relationship between good food and wine. Every 6 weeks, new menus will be created to showcase new wines and possibly even some of the best from the microbreweries, all aiming to thrill and inspire new creativity with respect to food and wine and how we enjoy it.


For bookings or further information on these special wine events 
visit www.thetestkitchen.co.za, 
call (27) (21) 447 2337. 
You can also follow Luke on Twitter. 

Happy Easter, news and updates!

A few bits of news from our side as we get ready to relax on Easter Weekend. 

Adi extended his visit to the US by a few days when he was made an "offer-you-cant-refuse". He spent the last few days in billionaire Sean Parker's mansion in Palm Spring, serving our wines to some of Hollywood's biggest names. (we will keep the details to ourselves, this is not People magazine, and we value our clients' privacy...)

The rest of us had a (slightly) less exciting week, but non the less, here are some details:

Wine Master Tim Atkin has once again honoured us with the title of Wine of the Week on his website. This time for our Family White Blend. 

Also, while Adi is "entertaining" in the USA Jasper conducted an early morning tasting in the cellar (coffee first!) with www.wine.co.za's Dusan Jelic. This was part of Dusan's Swartland Revolution Roadtrip and the stories will be published on wine.coza this weekend.

And last, but most definitely not least, we got some mention by James Molesworth in the May issue of Wine Spectator. James spoke to Adi about importing to the USA, quite apt when you consider this week's activities... 

And that is all the news from us. 


Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and blessed Easter Weekend. 
Drive safely and enjoy the time off!

News and updates

While Adi is in the USA life continues on Kalmoesfontein.


I finally received (two!) images from the Swartland Oesaf Party (harvest festival) that was held on Kalmoesfontein on April 1st. The venue and the Rosé at the venue... Hopefully someone will send more pics soon!

Other news is that we bottled some Secateurs Red blend 2010 last week (more info and notes on this wine soon) and this week it is time to bottle some Rosé...

And Adi gets mentioned in a post about South Africa's wine of origin on the Montreal Gazette...

"Swartland:
 This is the new frontier in South African wines. Winemakers like Eben Sadie (Sadie Family Wines), Craig Hawkins (Lammershoek) and Adi Badenhorst (Badenhorst Family Wines), all love their chenin blanc, and for the most part eschew technological winemaking and concentrate on grape growing. As Sadie preached, “We are on the 33rd parallel. Why are we trying to grow grapes that are best on the 44th (Bordeaux)?”


So this the place for the syrah, mourvèdre and other heat-loving vines."


Take note of Swartland. he says... well IN-DEED...

Born in the RSA, flying to the USA...

Right now Adi is somewhere over the Karoo on a flight to Johannesburg. There he will spend five lovely hours at OR Tambo (recently voted best airport in Africa btw) before departing for the US of A.

He will spend a few days in Jackson / Gulfport Mississippi and a few more in Chicago, using his charm to sell wine to the Americans! He will return home on April 16th (remember Adi, it's my birthday on the 17th so feel free to bring lots of presents... wink wink)

We wish you safe and happy flights, with no annoying passengers next to you, no lost baggage and lots of happy wine sales.