Badenhorst Family Wines

Adi Badenhorst makes wine the traditional way on Kalmoesfontein.

working weekends

Posted on February 6, 2012 by quietriotgirl

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

Posted on January 11, 2012 by quietriotgirl

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.

Cheers to 2011~

Posted on December 19, 2011 by quietriotgirl

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

Treasurrrrre hunt

Posted on December 7, 2011 by quietriotgirl

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…

Unofficial new mascot

Posted on November 29, 2011 by quietriotgirl

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

We like it!

More pictures from our first open day.

Posted on October 31, 2011 by quietriotgirl

“We few, we happy few.” – Shakespeare’s Henry V

Here are some pictures of the lucky guests who got tickets in time for our first ever open day on Kalmoesfontein. Lunch is served!

Official pictures – Lunch of Origin Swartland

Posted on October 5, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Neighbour, friend, photographer. Maree Louw is our favourite and first choice photographer when it comes to events.

Here are some of her pics from our first open day on Kalmoesfontein this weekend:

for more visit her blog here: http://naturallightphotography.co.za/view/blog/families/badenhorst-family-wines-open-day-swartland/

Lunch of Origin: Swartland

Posted on October 4, 2011 by quietriotgirl

The menu from our first open day, prepared by Adi’s mom Judy Badenhorst and a few hardworking friends and family members.

Wine + water and bread + butter

A salad, delicious, of beetroot, radishes and baby spinach and red onions with goats cheese and finished with a balsamic, mustard and honey dressing (The crunchy green things are pumpkin seeds)

Green garden salad with a salsa verde dressing (fancy name for a green herb dressing) with capers and anchovies

There are two kinds of quiches (free range duck eggs used here) of caramilized onions one with gruyere cheese and the other with smoked bacon

If that’s not enough then there will also be farm raised marinated chicken braaied to perfection on old cabernet sauvignon vines ( we have no use for cabernet here other than for braaing on). The chicken will be served with roasted root vegetables of carrots, parsnips, onions and above ground butternut.

And there is even dessert. We have made a jelly from Fernoa Pires straw wine 2009, a homemade custard and stewed rhubarb and apple.

Coffee and tea.

This picture, thanks to Santie le Roux:

more pictures, by our official photographer Maree Louw, coming soon!

Cottage life…

Posted on September 27, 2011 by quietriotgirl

We told you a while ago that you can now come stay in the cottage on Kalmoesfontein by booking through Perfect Hideaways. This weekend we had our first guests; Lisa Fullstone and her family spent the weekend on the farm and sent us some lovely pictures.

In her e-mail, subjected “Kalmoesfontein – a boy, a dog, a farm” Lisa wrote:

“We had a lovely weekend, we really enjoyed the farm and the dogs! Our 5 year old Sam fell in love with the dogs and spent hours playing with them, he also got to meet Badenhorst 5 year old Samuel and they played really nicely together.

We loved the farm, the dogs, the garden, Fortuin, the birdlife and mostly the peace and quiet.. and the VIEW!!! did I mention the view! and the Swartland heat, and the wines…”

Sound good? Then book your weekend and come enjoy it for yourself…

Washing barrels

Posted on September 21, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Recently we told you about the new (old) barrels we bought for the cellar and how Razvan at Nederburg gave us a few tips on how to clean them. We have started to move the smaller barrels out of the cellar and have washed out the new (old) barrels.

As you know, everything we do on Kalmoesfontein is a family affair, so it was no surprise that little Ana Kalander wanted to keep an eye on her dad while he performed this important task.

Quality control, Paardeberg style~