Our accommodation is pretty (and) popular, usually booked up far in advance, but we still have a few spots open for winter getaways. So we’re sweetening the deal with a few special winter warmer options:

WINTER WEEKENDS:

Any weekend this June, July or August, pay for two nights, stay for three! Book any of our accommodation for Friday & Saturday night and get Sunday on us!

MID WEEK:

June = wine time

This June, book our two-bedroom Stables or Winemaker’s Cottage or 3-bedroom Koringhuis midweek and get a mixed case of Secateurs Wines to enjoy in front of the fireplace. 

OR

Book our one bedroom Silo or Melkkamer for a midweek stay and we’ll throw in a bottle of our Family White or Red Blends. 

July = breakfast bonus

Book any of our accommodations for a midweek stay in July and we’ll throw in a farm breakfast, served at The Old House, every morning of your stay. 

August = soup & red wine

Come stay midweek this August and enjoy a hearty homemade soup and farm fresh bread (at a mealtime of your preference), paired with a bottle of our Family Red Blend (with the two bedroom Stables or Winemaker’s Cottage / 3-bed Koringhuis) or Secateurs Red Blend (with the one bedroom Silo or Melkkamer), on us.

*T&Cs

Midweek means check-in Mondays (14h00) and check-out on Fridays (10h00). Minimum two nights stay.

Deal valid on any new bookings made (for 01 June – 31 August 2022) from the date of this post.

Please book via Semper – find more info on the accommodation options on our farm’s website kalmoesfontein.com, or contact semma@aabadenhorst.com for more info.

Hope to see you on the farm soon!

We’ve briefly mentioned that we’ll be hosting a wine TASTING & LUNCH on 3 June

and last week we opened ticket sales for our FIRST FRIDAY with PIZZA & A SHOW on 2 June,

and now we’d like to announce that we’ve been keeping our accommodation open for you to MAKE A WEEKEND OUT OF IT.

Come stay on the farm to rest and recuperate, but with the perfect mix of social engagement and entertainment.

You (and your friends) could check into our accommodation on Friday afternoon and take a sunset stroll that ends at The Old House for pizza and a show by Albert Frost & Schalk Joubert!

On Saturday you can rise slow, have some farm fresh eggs with our locally baked bread and meander over to where you hear music (probably Bob Dylan) coming from the record player in the cellar.

Here Adi will take you through a tasting of our wines (some still in tanks and barrels, some older vintages) before you sit down for a 3 course lunch prepared by Charl & the talented kitchen team.

After a long lazy lunch and a few more glasses (bottles?) of wine it’s a short stumble to your luxury bed for an afternoon nap. And then you are on your own to stare at the stars or fireplace; stay in or go to dinner at one of our favourite eateries in Riebeek (try Artvark Eats, MARRAS or The Barn) or perhaps for Hysteria at Osteria in Wellington.

Price wise:

Accommodation, minimum weekend booking of 2 nights:

The Silo is R2200 per night (sleeps 2)
Die Melkkamer is R2400 per night (sleeps 2)
The Stables is R3200 per night (sleeps 4)
The Winemaker’s Cottage is R3850 per night (sleeps 4)
Die Koringhuis is R5100 per night (sleeps 6 adults and up to 2 kids)

more info and pics of each place, HERE.

Pizza and a show = R400pp (more info here)

Tasting & 3-course lunch = R595pp (kids under 18 @R115 for lunch)

To book accommodation (plus some) email Semma@aabadenhorst.com.

We hope to see you there!

*the farm runs on a generator so NO LOADSHEDDING HERE! get away from it all…

For our June 2023 edition of First Friday & a show we bring you the insanely dynamic duo Albert Frost and Schalk Joubert, Independently two of SA’s most sensational and celebrated musicians, on one stage… 

ALBERT FROST is a SAMA award winning blues/rock guitarist/singer dubbed the “South African Hendrix” who deftly alternates between rhythm and lead, showcasing his extraordinary skills on the acoustic and electric guitars. 

SCHALK JOUBERT is a multi-award winning bass player, composer, arranger, producer, solo artist and musical director who has established himself, over the last twenty years, within a big variety of genres that ranges from Rock & Pop to Classical, Jazz and Traditional African Music.

Together they will warm our first winter Pizza Night with a show.

Where: Kalmoesfontein Farm

When: 2 June 2023

Tickets are R400pp (includes rolling pizzas & the show) available via Quicket (click here).

For more info, contact helena@aabadenhorst.com

We look forward to seeing you on the farm!

Next week our new old venue The Sea Shell will feature in the 4th Saldanha Experience!

Find out more and how to book, here.

On Friday night last week we embarked on a new mission, to spread the gospel and share the stories of good wines found on our travels.

With the help of newly founded Lekker Domaines importing company we brought Spanish friends, Alfonso Torrente and Roberto Santana of Envinate in Spain (and the Canary Islands) to the Swartland.

We had a jam packed week planned for them (guessing they are behind on a few siestas now) visiting many Swartland Producers and landmarks and on Friday eve the week’s programme peaked with a tasting for 150 enthusiastic tasters at the Anne Pienaar Primary’s School’s (in the process of being renovated) hall on Jakkalsfontein in the Paardeberg.

We leaned into the school hall aesthetic (hard) and Alfonso and Roberto came to the party with a beautiful slideshow showing off their unique vineyards, ancient (yet modernised) techniques and terrific terroirs.

Afterwards the group descended on The Old House on Kalmoesfontein…

where the bar was stocked and Charl and his team had long since been braaiing and cooking up a storm.

We’re hoping to make this venture an annual one, to bring new and old friends (who make interesting and worthy wines) from all over the world to our little piece of the Paardeberg, to share their gospel with you.

For more info, follow @TheSwartlandGospel on Instagram and mark the date for 3 November 2023 in your diaries so long – exciting announcements coming soon(ish).

with thanks for/to:

tasting sheet: Helena Sheridan-Gouws x YehBaby Marketing Creatives

Decor, arts & crafts: team lead by Cornelia Badenhorst & Hendrik Coetzee

Photos: Yvette Geyer-Coetzee

Meat: Ryan Boon

and the whole Kalmoesfontein / Badenhorst team and everyone who helped!

Adi has invited his Spanish friends Alfonso Torrente and Roberto Santana of Envínate to visit South Africa and now they are inviting you to explore and enjoy their wines this November.

In a “Swartland Revolution style” formal tasting, moderated by Adi, Alfonso and Roberto will introduce eight wines (six red and two white) from their winery in La Roda, near Albacete in Castilla La Mancha.

The tasting will take place in the Anne Pienaar Primary School Hall (at the entrance to Kalmoesfontein) on 4 November.

The event will be followed by an optional informal dinner at The Old House (prepared by Charl & team) and if you want to make a Swartland weekend of it, there is the Swartland Producers Street Party in Riebeek Kasteel on Saturday. 

“Envínate (translates as “wine yourself”) is the brainchild of 4 friends, winemakers Roberto Santana, Alfonso Torrente, Laura Ramos, and José Martínez.  This gang of 4 formed back in 2005 while studying enology at the University of Miguel Hernandez in Alicante. Upon graduation, they formed a winemaking consultancy, which evolved into Envínate, a project that focuses on exploring distinctive parcels mainly in the Atlantic-inflected regions of Ribeira Sacra and the Canary Islands. Their collective aim is to make profoundly pure and authentic wines that express the terruño of each parcel in a clear and concise manner. To this end, no chemicals are used in any of the Envínate vineyards, all parcels are picked by hand, the grapes are foot-trodden, and the wines are fermented exclusively with wild yeasts, with a varying proportion of whole grape clusters included. For aging, the wines are raised in old barrels and concrete, and sulfur is only added at bottling, if needed. The results are some of the most exciting and honest wines being produced in Spain today.” – Source

Tickets are selling via Quicket – click here.

Tasting = R750pp and starts at 17h00.

Dinner at The Old House on Kalmoesfontein = R550pp for food and starts after the tasting, so 19h30ish.

You are welcome to bring wines to share and the bar will also be selling everything from Secateurs to Swaan and beers to brannewyn.

Charl’s menu:

Braai Broodjies with cheese, red onions, tomato

Skaap Ribbetjies with fire roasted lime

Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Fire roasted Thick Cut T-Bone steaks) with sea salt and Salsa’s

Potato cubes

Groen Braai slaai (cos lettuce, cucumber, spring onions, snap peas with vinaigrette)

SOETES

Chocolate Brownies with seasonal berries & Amaretto Chantilly cream 

TEA/COFFEE

Wine sales – a limited number of mixed cases of the wines on show will be available to buy on the night.

Spring time is the prettiest time – join us for a guided hike around the mountain, through flowering fynbos with green wheat lands and golden canola fields as far as the eye can see.

Then enjoy a Caperitif cocktail and farm lunch prepared by the Kalmoesfontein Katering Krew.

R350pp – book via semma@aabadenhorst.com (limited spots available).

from 10am Saturday 3 September 2022.

As an official member of The Old Vine Project we’re proud to announce the inaugural Old Vine Day this year (and every year after from now on), on the 1^st of August 2022, this being the founding date of the OVP in 2016.

Rosa Kruger, vineyard manager and founder of the OVP, began to catalogue old vines in 2002. Since the formal launch of the OVP six years ago, the organisation has gone from strength to strength, with close to 130 members and over 250 Certified Heritage Vineyard (CHV) wines now released each vintage.

“Old vines are a phenomenon that has captured the attention of the global wine world. Wines that are made from old vines are a tribute to the grower’s love of his or her land. They exist because of the people who touched and tended them over many years. In South Africa, producers can certify old vine vineyards and wines with the Old Vine Project (OVP).

South Africa has the advantage that our vineyard plant dates can be verified by the South African Wine Industry Information Systems (SAWIS) back to 1900. This extraordinary database has been instrumental in the existence of the OVP and its guarantee of traceability.

Members of the OVP apply for the Certified Heritage Vineyards seal for wine made from vineyards of 35 years or older, together with the planting date. This is a guarantee to the consumer of authentic wines made according to the OVP viticultural and winemaking guidelines.

The journey to document South Africa’s old vines was started in 2002 by vineyard manager, Rosa Kruger. The OVP was formalised in 2016 with seed funding from the Rupert Foundation. Today, with traction gained and awareness spreading, more wines are being launched to augment the OVP’s footprint.” – as the official project overview reads.

We’re celebrating our eldest – Raaigras Grenache (planted in 1952 – 70 this year!)

but we proudly honour the other old blocks that we work with too

Images are screengrabs from the latest draft of our edited Single Vineyard Wines’ fact sheet – a collaboration between our team and Yehbaby Design in Paarl.

So there you have it, being over 35 doesn’t only put you in the middle age box (35-45 I mean really…) but also groups you with what is considered Heritage… Cheers!