chasing snakes - and cooking lunch!

Samuel and his cousin Jan-Hendrik recently helped clear a patch of land to plant artichokes and they had fun catching (non poisonous) snakes! 

We hope to treat you with lots of home grown goodness at our first open day:

Lunch of origin Swartland

We would like to invite all food and wine lovers  to our first ever OPEN DAY - a Sunday lunch on Kalmoesfontein farm, home of AA Badenhorst Family Wines.

SUNDAY LUNCH, 2 October 2011, for friends, family and even children. Ja, they can come too - we will provide a little muddy dam for them to frolic in after chasing the farm chickens. Mud is easier to clean off car seats than ice cream...

We plan to put on a most amazing lunch – my mother Judy and I will do the cooking - you just have to eat and drink and make merry (and try to keep the conversation interesting and intelligent, if you want, but the other extreme is also ok.)

The Swartland will look incredible then and from where you will sit the vistas of ripening wheat fields and budding vines is unsurpassed.

Most of the ingredients will be sourced from our farm and our neighbouring farms. These friends grow wonderful chickens, ducks, lamb and vegetables. The tastes will be fresh and alive.

The menu will be something like this (depending on available ingredients)

Salad green - baby butter lettuce with salsa verde dressing (the anchovies are not from here though)

Quiches – the way quiches should really look and taste! Vegetarian delight!

Homemade bread - from locally grown and ground flour

Pickles galore – from my mom, a woman who pickles everything in sight

Big juicy free range chickens - served whole on fresh roasted vegetables and potatoes/patats.

(So we need carvers, we will provide the right tools all you have to do is cut and share.)

 Desserts will be homemade ice cream and rhubarb from the garden.

Leaf tea and coffee from our cellar espresso maching for those that want otherwise some very special sweet wine or sherry.

The wines to pair will include- the Secateurs Rose, Chenin Blanc and Red Blend and the AA Badenhorst White and Red Blends plus some other cellar-only specials (we will dig into Cornelia’s drinking stock while she's not looking...)

The 5Ws & H:

Who: Your Host, Andre Adriaan (Adi) Badenhorst [Family Wines]

What: Farm Fresh Sunday Roast

When: Sunday October 2^nd, 2011 – 12.30 for 13.00

Where: Kalmoesfontein, Paardeberg, Swartland (map to be supplied)

Why: Cause we want to share the goodness of the Swartland with you!

How: If you are interested, mail us (aabadenhorstwine@gmail.com) and we will send you banking and booking details.

The cost will be R250/person and R50/child and we will have a farm stall style shop where you can buy wonderful produce from the area (so bring some cash and a basket).

Oh Swartland my Swartland...

A few photos from a recent visit to the farm:

 Above and below: Tiny quails being raised under a light, and in Samuel's 5 year old hand, to show the size.

 Ana admiring her Dad's quails.

 Chicken egg vs quail egg.

 Swartland vistas, August 2011.

Adi's Eurotrip Winter 2011

A few photos from Adi's recent trip to Europe has surfaced. Here are a few:

Picture taken at Rock Werchter concert outside Brussels - one of these guys is Peter de Leeuw our Belgium agent...
Guess which one..?

 

Fernando is a mean cook and exceptional musician.
"He cooked the best chicken I have ever had" - simple roast, some coconut milk and spices - wonderful with our Family Red blend!

More pictures in the album "The Adventures of Adi, Winter 2011" on our Facebook page. 

Photos from the farm

Jasper Wickens, assistant wine maker and (un)official Paardeberg party planner sent me a few pictures from the farm. 

Above & below: Filling up the new Sherry Cellar!

Above & below: Pruning time in the vineyards

Below: Gotcha! the Muskeljaatkat that has been caught after weeks of 'population control' among our chickens!

Peaking in on the Swartland

American wine enthusiast and author of Wine-Zag, Adam Japko recently visited the Swartland in an attempt to get to know the region and the wines up close and personal. 
He has been infatuated with our piece of valley "ever since tasting a bottle of Sadie Family Vineyards’ Palladius more than a year ago. " 


He believes "Most importantly, an overwhelming majority of Swartland wines I tasted deserve regular appearances in all serious wine enthusiasts’ drinking regimens."


He stayed in the cottage on Kalmoesfontein and starts his feedback of the Swartland with some flattery for Adi:


"While Adi is just one piece of the Swartland winemaker fabric, joined by the likes of David Sadie, Eben Sadie, Chris Mullineux, and Craig Hawkins, he epitomizes the thumb to the nose, do it “my way”, pioneering, radical but humble, and unconventional attitude fueling one of the most significant modern day regional winemaking upheavals."


Read the whole post and see the videos (in which Adi proclaims: "Honestly I would rather eat my toenails and watch a Jerry Springer omnibus than drink a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.")

New and Exclusive

We here on Kalmoesfontein have decided to take a step in the direction of being even more exclusive. Starting next week – Adi will make some of his small quantity, experimental wines available for sale to our database of subscribers only.

The first offer is the Badenhorst Family Wine NV, also known as The Funky White.

It is primarily a blend of Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay and Viognier (accounting for around 80% of the wine) with the rest being made up of a blend of eight other varieties! They wine is kept under a Solera system which has been running since 2007.

Only 650 bottles of this wine will be bottled every year and this year’s batch will be sold exclusively to our mailing list. The wine is not for sale in retail outlets and only a few selected restaurants have it on their wine list.

The offer is limited to 6 bottles per person on a first come first served basis. It is only open to people living in South Africa and will be delivered upon proof of payment. To stand in line, email us on aabadenhorstwine@gmail.com 

Praise for the ‘Wine’ includes this:

What is important is that it is a wine got that my wahoo flowing, it made me smile, it made me quickly pour another glass, and best of all (this for me is a really important aspect of wine) it made me want another bottle. Quickly.

-       -   Harry Haddon

The ‘Wine’ from Badenhorst has a lovely aroma of tropical fruit, particularly showing off gorgeous notes of passion-fruit and kiwi, these are backed up by almonds and sweet spice. The palate is intense with an elegant body and lovely firm acidity, the complex assortment of flavours includes hay, spice, nuts and peach. The finish is long, silky and very creamy.

-       -   Alex Redfern

The AA Badenhorst NV ‘Funky White’ is an artisanal wine with a flor-like quality

-        -  Cathryn Henderson

So make sure you get on our mailing list (email aabadenhorstwine@gmail.com) to make use of this and other amazing exclusive offers. Offer will go out early next week! 

Reporting in the Rapport

Feedback from The Fantastic Eben, Adi and Luke show at The Test Kitchen in the lifestyle magazine that accompanies Rapport (Afrikaans Sunday newspaper).