Praises for the Paardeberg

Adi's dad, Andre Badenhorst, recently purchased the farm Far Horison, (with wine label Horse Mountain) and in the magazine accompanying the Rapport Newspaper on Sunday 10 October featured this news, along with some great insight on the Swartland.

Next generation...

Two young, up and coming winemakers, Peter-Allen Finlayson and Donavon Rall both name Adi as and inspiration and mentor in this month's new look Wine Magazine, a great honour to receive.

Racking the Red (2010)

Adi recently started racking the 2010 red wines out of the 4000L wooden vats on Kalmoesfontein. The rackings were done when the moon was just right and just after September, which means it's time to actually do something in the cellar for a change...

 Step one, look serious while opening the valve... 

 When the flow decreases, open the door with manly force... 

 Watch the beautiful wine flow out... 

 Here you can see the lees at the bottom of the vat.

and lastly Adi makes sure all the wine is siphoned off the lees...

Exciting stuff as another vintage of great wine is on its way... 

May the Force of Vriesenhof be With You...

Father(-in-law) Jan Boland Coetzee receives praise for his amazing Chardonnay on Wine Goggle. 

Cornelia Badenhorst (nee Coetzee) grew up on Vriesenhof, where charming Chardonnay is still being made every day.


"In Beaune, capital of Burgundy, Danie de Wet and Jan Boland Coetzee are recognised as having of the finest Chardonnay minds outside of spitting distance from the Hospice de Beaune. Since the early 1980’s they have worked tirelessly towards capturing the essence of the wonderful Chardonnay grape 10 000kms from its spiritual home through the kind of tireless toil and nurturing it takes to make a sensitive foreigner feel at home."


Read the entire article here...

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.