Badenhorst Family Wines

Adi Badenhorst makes wine the traditional way on Kalmoesfontein.

Plaas living

Posted on September 5, 2011 by quietriotgirl

You can now come stay in the cottage on Kalmoesfontein! The cottage, that sleeps four people (one double room and another room with two single beds) has two en-suite bathrooms, a lovely open plan kitchen / living room with a massive fireplace and views of the Swartland from the Paardeberg.

There are also hiking trails, horses, cellars, veggie gardens and more to explore!

Kalmoesfontein is located in the Paardeberg and within bike riding distance from Paarl, Wellington and Riebeek Kasteel.

Peaking in on the Swartland

Posted on July 15, 2011 by quietriotgirl

American wine enthusiast and author of Wine-Zag, Adam Japko recently visited the Swartland in an attempt to get to know the region and the wines up close and personal.
He has been infatuated with our piece of valley “ever since tasting a bottle of Sadie Family Vineyards’ Palladius more than a year ago. ”

He believes “Most importantly, an overwhelming majority of Swartland wines I tasted deserve regular appearances in all serious wine enthusiasts’ drinking regimens.”

He stayed in the cottage on Kalmoesfontein and starts his feedback of the Swartland with some flattery for Adi:

“While Adi is just one piece of the Swartland winemaker fabric, joined by the likes of David Sadie, Eben Sadie, Chris Mullineux, and Craig Hawkins, he epitomizes the thumb to the nose, do it “my way”, pioneering, radical but humble, and unconventional attitude fueling one of the most significant modern day regional winemaking upheavals.”

Read the whole post and see the videos (in which Adi proclaims: “Honestly I would rather eat my toenails and watch a Jerry Springer omnibus than drink a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.”)

A look into the cellar (and the office)

Posted on June 29, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Thanks to Real World TV and Bar Bar Black Sheep for this video of Adi. Take a look inside the cellar and into the office on Kalmoesfontein. Where the magic happens…

video (c) Real World TV

Bold reds and lush sweet whites

Posted on June 28, 2011 by quietriotgirl

A brilliant (read flattering) article in the UK’s Daily Mail on the Swartland wine region. Olly Smith writes that “Many of (these) young stars cut their teeth in big-name wineries before striking out on their own, and with a progressive approach to social media (I like to think that he is referring to my work on this blog and for the Swartland Revolution;) and an emphasis on fun, theirs is an example other wine regions could learn from.”

He also talks about our Family Red Blend:
An outstanding red blend is AA Badenhorst Family Red 2007 (£29.95 at Harrods) – bold, harmonious and spicy, and an impressively restrained 13.5 per cent. Its creator Adi Badenhorst has an enviable bounce that’s more than matched by his winemaking skill.

And I love this quote by Marc Kent:

‘Bank robbers rob banks, because that’s where the money is; we’re getting more involved in the Swartland, because that’s where the quality is!’

Swartland All Stars!

Posted on June 17, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Anton Espost – owner of The Wine Kollective in Riebeek Kasteel’s Short Street Square is also a keen writer and has recently published “Swartland Grapeheart 2011′.

We love:
1. The tattoo inspired All Stars cover.

2. The clever quirky diagrams we found in there:
2.1 The Swartland Brain:

2.2 The Wine Regions of SA:

2.3 And the percentage of Landcruisers with designer dogs:

The Wine Kollective was started with the brilliant idea:

Start your own shop, call it ‘The Wine Kollective’, convince the best wineries to join the cause and viola!’

The Blue Building
Short Street
Riebeek Kasteel
t. 022 448-1008
e. espost@telkomsa.net

Free tastings on weekends!!

Swartland Revolution 2011 – final programme!

Posted on June 7, 2011 by quietriotgirl

With the raging success of the inaugural Swartland Revolution organisers have made 250 tickets available for this year’s Revolution that will take place on the weekend of 11 – 12 November 2011.

With guest feedback that included praise such as “the best wine event that I have ever attended”; “like Woodstock… but without the sex”; “world class performance” and “a revolution against boring wines, against boring events; this was a revolt against the plain and the sad, the straight and the narrow; it was simply a benchmarking of joie de vivre” most of last year’s attendees have already booked their place at this year’s event.

The programme for 2011 has just been finalised and is bigger (and even better) than in 2010;

Three tastings of benchmark wines:

– Eight wines from the local Mullineux Cellar;

– Olivier Clape presenting six of his wines from The Northern Rhone in France

– and nine wines, all personal favourites selected by London based wine writer Jamie Goode, ze German Sommelier Jorg Pfutzner and local kenner Michael Fridjhon.

The food will again be “simply superb” as noted by 2010 revolutionary:

– Celeb chef Reuben Riffel and his team are ready to braai up a storm once more. If last year’s BBQ was any indication we can expect mountains of perfectly prepared meat, salads to stun and fire grilled veggies that will impress even the most hard core carnivores.

– For Saturday lunch the team at Bar Bar Black Sheep will again prepare a truly local feast to mesmerise guests.

The event will conclude with The Swartland Independent Street Party. At R50 per person this tasting is more accessible and open to the public. With local producers showcasing their natural wines it will attract a whole new crowd as we take over the Riebeek Main Street and party into the sunset.

Tickets sold via Webtickets.

Hats off to a new Côte

Posted on May 3, 2011 by quietriotgirl

The Yorkshire Post has published a lovely article on the Swartland. With focus on last year’s revolution – and particularly the tasting by Stephane Ogier of the Northern Rhone, Christine Austin tells the story of a wine region that is fast becoming world class.

“The reason for Stéphane’s presence in South Africa that day is because Swartland shares many of the characteristics that create some of the Rhône’s finest wines. The soil is complex with granite, clay, slate and river shale creating individual pockets for different varieties; the climate is hot during the day but a cooling breeze spreads over the region in the afternoon; and there is enough distance between the Swartland and the manicured vineyards of Stellenbosch to feel that this is the pioneering, Wild West of wine growing.”

She also focusses on Eben and Adi’s journeys to the Swartland and rates some of their wines, including our “fresh-tasting complex, pepper and aniseed Badenhorst Family Red 2007, which is on its way to becoming one of South Africa’s great wines.”

Read the full article here.

Revving up for another Revolution…

Posted on April 28, 2011 by quietriotgirl

We are once again in full swing planning the Swartland Revolution. After the overwhelming success of the inaugural Revolution, this year promises to be bigger and better.

With 250 tickets available there will not only be more guests, but more tastings and more goodies and fun entertainment awaits you, come 11/11/11.

This year’s tastings (three, compared to two last year) includes a Friday afternoon tasting by Olivier Clape presenting six of his world class French wines. On Saturday there will be a tasting of eight wines from the local Mullineux Cellar as well as a tasting with wine journalist Jamie Goode (all the way from London) and Michael Fridjhon, a revolution favourite. They will treat us to four of their favourite wines each.

As they say, dont fix it if it aint broken; so celeb chef Reuben Riffel will once again be in charge of the braai tongs on Friday night while local hero Mynardt Joubert and the team at Bar Bar Black Sheep will have to pull out all the stops to top their Festival Feast from 2010 for lunch on Saturday.

And finally, a new poster has arrived…

For the entire programme of events, click here!

Hope to see you in the Swartland in November!

The Adi, Eben and Luke Show @ The Test Kitchen this winter

Posted on April 26, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Winter just warmed up a little!

News has arrived that Adi, along with neighbour, friend and fellow wine rock star Eben Sadie will join exciting and much talked about, award-winning chef, Luke Dale Roberts at his restaurant The Test Kitchen for a winter pairing programme!

Yes, a definite reason to get excited.

Eben, Adi and Luke have had extensive tastings in order to try to find the perfect combination of dishes such as Luke’s seared tuna with sotf dashi jelly, soy milk yuba and caviar or foie gras tiramisu, or the newly developed sweetbread and truffle jagerbomb.

This collaboration will see these maverick winemakers joining Luke in the kitchen to experiment with ingredients and combinations to produce a menu that will be unlike anything else on offer: a food and wine lover’s dream!

Eben and Adi will be showcasing there top drawer wines and other “secret wines” that have not been available to the general public.

Luke explains: “I’m excited that we are going into winter. Eben and Adi are inspirational wine makers that push the limits of creativity, they are not afraid to take risks and I respect that very much. We have a good chemistry and I am inspired to be working with other exciting, creative individuals in addition to my team. That’s what its all about. Wood is also a great new component that I’m enjoying using, like the velouté I’m making with American oak and bourbon accompanying my new tongue dish. Its great to slow down just a little and get seriously creative for the cooler months”.

This gastronomic adventure will continue The Test Kitchen’s reputation of being at the forefront of exciting fine dining and will highlight the symbiotic relationship between good food and wine. Every 6 weeks, new menus will be created to showcase new wines and possibly even some of the best from the microbreweries, all aiming to thrill and inspire new creativity with respect to food and wine and how we enjoy it.

For bookings or further information on these special wine events
visit www.thetestkitchen.co.za,
call (27) (21) 447 2337.
You can also follow Luke on Twitter.

Happy Easter, news and updates!

Posted on April 21, 2011 by quietriotgirl

A few bits of news from our side as we get ready to relax on Easter Weekend.

Adi extended his visit to the US by a few days when he was made an “offer-you-cant-refuse”. He spent the last few days in billionaire Sean Parker‘s mansion in Palm Spring, serving our wines to some of Hollywood’s biggest names. (we will keep the details to ourselves, this is not People magazine, and we value our clients’ privacy…)

The rest of us had a (slightly) less exciting week, but non the less, here are some details:

Wine Master Tim Atkin has once again honoured us with the title of Wine of the Week on his website. This time for our Family White Blend.

Also, while Adi is “entertaining” in the USA Jasper conducted an early morning tasting in the cellar (coffee first!) with www.wine.co.za‘s Dusan Jelic. This was part of Dusan’s Swartland Revolution Roadtrip and the stories will be published on wine.coza this weekend.

And last, but most definitely not least, we got some mention by James Molesworth in the May issue of Wine Spectator. James spoke to Adi about importing to the USA, quite apt when you consider this week’s activities…

And that is all the news from us.

Wishing you and your loved ones a safe and blessed Easter Weekend.
Drive safely and enjoy the time off!