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!

In April we hosted a small trade tasting to release the new vintages of our Single Vineyard wines (2021) and Kalmoesfontein Family Blends (2020).

Now these are hitting local wine lists and stores – so we’d like to tell you a bit more about them.

In terms of the Single Vineyard wines; in 2021 we made:

The Golden Slopes; Klipkop and Kelder Steen / Chenin Blancs

Sout van die Aarde Palomino;

Raaigras Grenache;

Ramnasgras and Ringmuur Cinsault;

and also Sk’windjiesvlei Tinta Barocca.

Cause not all vineyards shine every year – and if they don’t impress on their own they get blended into the Kalmoesfontein White or Red…

Read more about these on our Facebook or Instagram pages. And check out this post for place to order them online!

Kalmoesfontein / Adi Badenhorst productions presents:

Here it is, our first First Fridays pizza night with a show:

Gerald Clark is back on home grounds, joined by some of the SA’s best musicians for a show that is heartfelt, soulful, stomping and loaded with years of experience playing his brand of Blues and Love Songs on stages all over the world.

R300pp gets you a pizza, a welcome drink by Huis van Chevallerie and this unique Gerald Clark show.

Cash bar, lots of fun. Only 100 tickets.

4 March 2022, pizza from 7pm, show starts at 8.

Book via Helena on aabadenhorstwine@gmail.com.