Every bottle is a bomb – diving mask for protection. Methode Rural 2013 off to be diffused or disgorged!
Full moon rising over the Swartland.
Jan planning/sketching the new cellar with Adi & Jasper.
fancy crates.
Skoffeled bankie, nice cover crop, old Hermityk/Cinsault vines.
We donated a TV to the Grade R class at the Ann Pienaar school (on the corner as you turn into Kalmoesfontein) to keep the kids entertained on rainy winter days.
Sunrise from the stoep.
Photos from parties and activities on Kalmoesfontein.
Styled by Ebony Designs. Pictures by Verity Fitzgerald.
Come have your event with us!
I am currently in Spain (building Junk Rafts) but our lovely new Cape Sales lady Nicole sent me some pictures of the latest brunch on Kalmoesfontein.
The Swartland is stunning in winter!
Planning the cellar expansion
ceramics by ceramicmatters.blogspot.com
elle deco shoot on the farm
A Secateurs a day keeps the mosquitoes away…
Papegaai exclusively at &union.
Our 2013 Harvest t-shirts – front.
Our 2013 harvest t-shirts – back.
One of the fashion stories in the latest issue of Sarie was shot on Kalmoesfontein.
So versatile we are…
Styled by Amaria Carstens &Chris Viljoen.
The Grade R’s from Samuel’s school in Malmesbury (where he is in the “big school” Grade 1 this year) came to help stomp some grapes on Kalmoesfontein yesterday.
Last night was the first Adi and Jasper show (as Justin called it) of 2013 – the WineGems tasting at &union.
A full house (Gemma says she takes 18 bookings, but there were at least 30 people squeezed into the bar) tasted both the Secateurs, the Family Red and White blend, the funky white and were also treated to (another) sneak peak of Jasper’s first offering – a red blend and a chenin blanc.
From what I see on twitter the crowd really enjoyed it. With Adi on top form – full of jokes and stories – and Jasper taking his time to tell the Muskeljaatkat story in detail – there were lots of laughs.
Some feedback on twitter:
Batonage: Awesome evening of wine tasting. @AABadenhorst wines and some Muskeljaatkat white and red @andUnionwine. Adi most amusing winemaker in SA.
Blackdelilah: Did I mention we had an AWESOME wine tasting @andUnionwine last night? Wines by @AABadenhorst & his able-bodied assistant, Jasper #goodstuff
JustLisa_Love: @AABadenhorst @andUnionwine – awesome left field tasting for our first#WineGems of 2013 – loved it!
darrynvdwalt: Best @andUnionwine #winegems in ages – haven’t laughed so much at a wine tasting. Legends! @AABadenhorst
LiLi1866: @AABadenhorst Best #winegems so far last night!! A stand-up comedy show & wine tasting rolled into one – amazing 🙂
I tried to tweet some of the Adinisms and quotes from the ‘comedy show’ – check out our twitter stream if you want to see more.
My favourites:
AABadenhorst: We work on psychological ripeness. You don’t wanna pick on a Friday for instance. – Adi, duh.
AABadenhorst: “This is not a pretty wine but it’s made to drink. We drink LOTS of this” – Adi. #secateurs Red
AABadenhorst: When is harvest over? Well the #oesAf party is on 22 March, so before then…
YES. We put some dates in diaries over dinner (at the ping pong table)
I also have dates for two tasting brunches, but I have a long waiting list to inform of that first. But watch this space for more details soon.
Thanks Gemma and everyone who showed up, tasted, laughed, bough wine and and and. Love you guys…
Feedback on last week’s Cape Wine event at the Cape Town International Convention Center is looking very positive.
Reading through bloggers and journalists’ accounts of the week in the stormy Cape it seems they had just as much fun as we did.
According to Bizcommunity this year “was the show’s most successful expo to date with producer exhibitors up 15% and visitors reaching a record at just under 1500.”
Says chairman of Wines of South Africa (WOSA), Johann Krige: “Our industry has wowed the international wine community with an exciting and diverse range of quality wines and a fresh and inspiring approach that has demonstrated our world leadership in eco-sustainability and energy-efficiency among wine-producing nations. We showed very effectively that we are making better wines at all price points and that we are making wines, better.”
The Swartland Independent members all had a stall together in the back of the hall. Our funky stand attracted visitors constantly and seemed to be very popular.
“In the Swartland corner, it was exciting and very busy, especially with Adi Badenhorst there to make things happen” – John Ford, read more here.
Emile on Winegoggle simply says “dig the Swartland Grand Funk stand. Mohammed Ali poster and other non-vino artefacts. Cool dudes. I order some chickens from Callie Louw, Porseleinberg. Talk boxing with a chick from the Sandveld, goes by the name of Katrien.”
Rebecca Gibbs reports: “The Swartland has also been turning heads in the past five years and quality of the wines can’t be denied. The Rhone-like blends produced from old bush vines in this Mediterranean climate are original and interesting.”
“It was a jolly good wine show,” says Melvyn Minnaar, “Unlike other crowded wine shows where the ‘commercial’ aspects always seem to linger in the background (‘have you tasted this?, wanna buy some?), and tasters sometimes feel trapped by the expected eyes of the pourer, this show seemed to operate to a different vibe. A friendly fraternity.”
We had lots of fun living it up in the big city of Cape Town for a week. With the farm bakkie in rush hour traffic (once in sunshine with Helena, Eben and American buyer John on the back and once in pouring rain with no windscreen wipers…), dinners at Fork and Dias Tavern (just to keep it diverse) and lots of laughs with old and new friends.
Badenhorst Family Wines 