we have relocated

Dear fans, friends and followers (I love alliteration)

We have moved, virtually.

In order to keep up with the times we have merged our blog and website, and in the future you can follow our blogposts by simply going to www.aabadenhorst.com.

Also make sure to pop in there and look around, we have put up some new info, updated vintages, links to fact sheets and more.

Be sure to let us know what you think.
So from blogger,
over and out~

in the summer time when the harvest is fine!

Just look at these, Chenin Blanc grapes from the 1957 planting - one of the oldest vineyards in the Paardeberg!

This cask (above) is for Cornelia's own consumption. Every year Adi makes a wine especially for his wife.  This year, Chardonnay! (it must be love)

 Above and below, other casks furiously fermenting... 

Jasper and Meike (our German intern) loading the (in)famous Klappomp - unique to Kalmoesfontein and says Adi, "it makes other winemakers nervous"...

for the love of meat and wine

When you think about celebrating Valentine’s Day you probably conjure up pictures of pretty couples eating dinner by candlelight. Maybe you envision tacky window displays of hearts and bouquets of red roses or cuddly toys and boxes of chocolates... 

We head over to Melissa’s Food Shop on Kloof Street and did it a little different this year. Keeping in mind that 2012 is a leap year, we catered for the men and took care of South Africans’ biggest love affairs: braai, wine and humour.

Infamous Afrikaans Rap artist Jack Parow tanned a few lamb chops on the braai, deliciously marinated in his own Parow Braai Sauce. Food from the Karoo meats, available at all Melissa’s Food Shops, is the real deal – no preservatives, no additives, in fact no human interference at all. Just lamb, as nature intended it to be.

Together Adi and Jack were the Hairy Beasts, a theme inspired by the quirky gingerbread person range Melissa's got into store for the month of love. Adi poured guests some of our fine wines, also on sale at Melissa’s (Kloof Street and Stellenbosch stores only) from the entry level ‘value for money’ Secateurs to the ‘spoil your wife’ premium range - the Badenhorst Family Wines. 

Parow Sauce and Secateurs - the love affair of the day!

Kids at Jan v Riebeek High School across the road, screaming for Jack's attention!

be our valentine, yo!

Swing by Melissa’s Food Shop on Kloof Street this Valentine’s Day to see our secret ingredients in action.

Jack Parow & Adi Badenhorst, our Hairy Beasts, will make your hearts pump meat and wine this lovers day. 

Join us for a knee buckling lunch where the braai master Jack will show you how to braai for your bokkie, while Adi will whispers in your ear that a spoonful of sugar will make it all better!

We will light the fire around 11h30, so don’t arrive much later than 12h00, otherwise you might not get ‘n ribbetjie...

RSVP to aabadenhorstwine(@)gmail(dot)com by Friday the 10th of Feb if we can expect to see your face covered in JP braaisous.

Like Jack says: "“Baby, voor ek jou oopmond soen, sê vir my,

kan jy braaibroodjies maak…?”

working weekends

On Saturday our financial manager Gerrie got out of his office chair, put on some shorts and left the aircon behind to come help harvest on Kalmoesfontein. He brought his cute kids to lend another two pairs of hands (we are all for child labour here in the Swartland).

Gerrie with Alexander and Lenae.

Cheer up buddy, one day you can also drink wine! 

The "karookop shiraz" was everywhere.

Jasper sustained some minor injuries, but nothing worth writing home blogging about.

Young Guns

It's true - if you use an old photo of Adi in a current article you can still call him a young gun!

Following up on the article by Matthew Jukes that we shared here on our blog at the end of 2011, here are the pages from December's Decanter magazine.

Are you excited yet!?

Victoria Moore meets the next generation of winemakers at South African wine festival Swartland Revolution and concludes: 'When it comes to wine, nowhere in South Africa is as exciting as Swartland right now!'

Moore attended the Swartland Revolution in Riebeek in November last year and writes a very nice article for The Telegraph. 

Read the whole story here. 

Cheers to 2011~

And then we came to the end. Another year, another vintage, another revolution - now mere magical memories.

2011 has been a very blessed year on Kalmoesfontein. We are finally happy with the farm’s transformation from ‘bombed Siberia’ (as Andre describes it) and opened our gates to friends, family and fans for our first open day in October and in November celebrated our first farm wedding on the lawns and porches of the old house.

Adi’s pandemonium of parrots are growing slowly but surely, The Winemaker’s Cottage on the farm now gets rented out so you can come experience Swartland farm living, the second annual Swartland Revolution went down with a bang and our wines received top marks from various international and local critics, including the Wine Advocate (no scandal involved here, we promise).

But for now we look forward to a few days of relaxation on the west coast. We expect the first grapes, some verdelho from the Piketberg area, to be ready for harvest by mid January so there will be no time to waste in the new year. With cellar hands coming all the way from Spain, Chile and India the Paardeberg will definitely enjoy an interesting harvest 2012.

Partyberg’s Proffesional Party Planner, Jasper reports that there will be a Grape Stomping Party (end Feb) and a Harvest Party by the end of March with dates to be confirmed.

We wish you and your family, friends and loved ones a blessed festive season and a very happy new year. We are grateful for your continued support in 2011 and promise to bring you more fine and rare hand crafted wines in 2012.

Cheers to a merry Christmas,

The extended Badenhorst and Kalmoesfontein Family

A spiritual journey for SA wines

Matthew Jukes, considered by many to be the most influential wine writer in the UK, turns his attention to South African wine after confessing "Are you, like me, one of those people who doesn’t really get South African wine? ... Well, it is time to think again because this mindset is completely and utterly outdated. "


He visited the Cape winelands, and the Swartland, in June and give a very insightful report on the current and future state of SA wine industry.


As he explains: "There is a very strong identity building in South Africa right now surrounding what other countries term ‘Young Guns’.  Young Guns are, by way of explanation, not necessarily young people, but they have a fresh, international view, and often a wide skill-set, which is rare in the wine business.  They also happen to be the people with their names or brands on the label.  They usually operate out of smaller wineries, often having quit large corporate wine companies, and they almost always enjoy instant, mini-cult status on release of their own wines, assuming that they stack up.  South Africa hasn’t had many YGs until recently." 


He then goes on to claim:
"Adi Badenhorst’s departure from Rustenberg signalled a spiritual downsizing for ambitious dudes to do their own thing.  This is happening in droves and I would venture to say that this movement is very close to becoming the single most important defining factor when it comes to South Africa’s vinous image abroad."


He mentions more of our Swartland neighbours and fellow Revolutionaries, you know, Sadie, the Mullineuxs, Lammershoek and more. 


We would recommend you Read more here as the article is very well written and insightful.

He also rates our AA Badenhorst, Secateurs White, Swartland, 2010 17/20 4 stars 13.5%

"One of a trio of marvellous entry level wines, Adi’s white is a wickedly priced and spankingly attractive wine.  With Chenin Blanc core it loads more complexity than any other rival at this price.  Watch out for a 2010 red and 2011 rosé coming soon.  Drink now – 2012 £9.95 Swig"

Treasurrrrre hunt

Adi, forever the pirate at heart / parrot lover, recently saved these beautiful parrots from the 'vibacrete' jungle of Malmesbury.

We welcomed them to Kalmoesfontein where they can whistle and tweet (no, they don't run our twitter account) with the extended bird family of Kalmoesfontein as well as the local Paardeberg birds. 

In the spirit of good old piracy, we give you a (treasure hunt?) challenge:

The first person to identify the 3 rare species pictured here will win a mixed case of our wine! Just in time for the festive season!

Just comment below, on our Facebook page or tweet us the answers... 

Friendly Family Farm wedding

Last weekend we hosted a big family (ours, the bride Rouxlene is Cornelia's cousin, sister to "the cousin who does the PR and marketing") wedding on Kalmoesfontein. Although the wind blew us (and the bride's veil) away during the ceremony and into the night it was a very cosy, love filled, fun affair. 

 "The Chapel" in front of the cellar. 

 "The cousin who does the PR and marketing, plans weddings and plays bridesmaid" with the proud father and blushing bride and 9 of the 10 blond kids who preceded them down the isle. Samuel and Ana also made the cut along with their cousins Richard, Jan-Hendrik and Hardy (who is the missing 1).

 The makeshift wind shelter - Swartland style. 

 The first dance.

Ouma Joey, the only grandparent in attendance, made all of the flags from old telephone books, to fit with the recycled, eco-friendly theme. 

 Simple, not so windproof, table settings of white and glass. 

 Every seat had a unique quote on love and marriage (in the glasses cause the original plan was even less windproof) 

The dance floor might have just been the parking lot in front of Adi's office, but that didn't stop the guests (everyone, from the vet bride's farming friends to the professional MMA fighter groom's cage fighting buddies) from busting a move and dancing into the night. We think we have Secateurs (and Oom Jan's Paradyskloof wines) to thank for that. Remember the Secateurs warrior!?

We hope Rouxlene and Paul will have a long and loving life together and we thank them for sharing their special day with us.

Photography: Maree Louw (Natural light Photography - click for more images) 
Make Up & Hair: Marti Bester (marti.bester@gmail.com / 0724594154)
Dress: Zani Lombard (0799269833)
Bouquet & wreaths: Cousin Marica Louw (marica@houseofarums.co.za / 0832655216)
Set up & decor: sister Helena Sheridan & cousin Cornelia Badenhorst (De Liefde)
Venue: Kalmoesfontein

Unofficial new mascot

Herman Potgieter, a guest at our Farm Family wedding this weekend crafted this Secateurs Warrior for us.

We like it!

When we revolted...

Pictures from the 2011 Swartland Revolution. We know we are a tad late, but it took us a while to recover, and then we wanted to wait for the full selection of pictures from 'neighbour' (it's a long bumpy drive to the Porseleinberg, but we still consider Callie & Maree neighbours) and photographer Maree, cause you know, we like to be a little different.

So here is our alternative choices of images from a revolution. If you missed it you missed out!

Oh goody (bag)!

Quality first - Olivier Clape

Revolutionary BBQ (by Reuben Riffel) at Bazaar. 

 entertainment from Die Baardskeerdersbos Orkes! 'dis n lekker ou jan...'

                                                                                      Adi's soap box from where he told many charming lame jokes while moderating the Expert Opinions tasting.

 lunch at bar bar black sheep!

Jasper receiving our official Swartland Independent decanter from Eben Sadie just before the street party!

Till next year!

The 2012 Swartland Revolution will take place on 9 & 10 November. Ticket sales will open in March 2012, start saving... Read more here / or follow the revolution on twitter / or like it on the book of faces.