Harvesting the last block!

Posted on March 15, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Yesterday we harvested the last block of grapes. The very old Cinsault bush-vines in front of the Cellar were planted in 1964!

That’s a wrap for the Kalmoesfontein Harvest of 2011, now we start crafting the wine in the cellar!

11.11.11 Save The Date!

Posted on March 14, 2011 by quietriotgirl

AA Badenhorst Family Wines, Mullineux Family Wines, Porcelain Mountain Wines, Sequillo Cellars and The Sadie Family Wines would like to invite you to the second annual Swartland Revolution Weekend.

When: 11 – 12 November 2011

Where: Riebeek Kasteel

After the overwhelming success of the inaugural Swartland Revolution weekend in 2010 we will bring you a bigger, better Revolution in 2011.

The action kicks off with registration at the Royal Hotel on Friday 11 November 2011.

This year’s programme will include three tastings of top international and Swartland wines; another delicious BBQ by celeb chef Reuben Riffel; lunch at the ever popular Bar Bar Black Sheep and another open tasting for all members of the new Swartland Independent to showcase their best natural wines.

This year there will be 250 weekend packages available (at R1750 pp) as well as a limited number of Dinner (R500 pp) / Lunch (R325 pp) and Breakfast (R75) only tickets.

The Swartland Independent Street Party on Saturday afternoon is also once again open to the public at R50 pp.

Tickets are available now from Webtickets.co.za.

More info at www.theswartlandrevolution.com

Feedback from 2010:

“…the best wine event that I have ever attended. A perfect mix of serious tasting of seriously good wines, with a good measure of fun and festivity. The food was simply superb, the venues and layout spot on, the speech from Michael in particular absolutely brilliant. Honestly I feel sorry for those who thought they should miss this one. Bring on 2011 – and count me in!”

Erica Meles-Liebenberg – MelesPR

“It was fantastic and a HUGE privilege for me to be part of something so special. You’ve done a
fantastic job, something that’s organised, but still driven by 100% soul.”

Pieter Walser – BLANKbottle

“My wife asked me how it was this morning when I got back, and I said that it was like ‘Woodstock… but without the sex’.”

Raffi Gabeyan – French Importer

“Thank you all so much for a wonderful feast of fine wine, delicious food, knowledge, opinions and passion. I thought you guys pulled off a world class performance from the very start right through until the end.”

Alex & Caryn Starey – Keermont Vineyards

“I can confidently say that the Swartland Revolution was by far the most enjoyable wine event I have been to. It was run with Germanic efficiency but full of South African gees. There was a balance between formal tastings and lounging on the grass sipping Bollinger. We ate till we were fit to burst, and drank till we were dancing (read: falling off) hay bales, we chatted & laughed, sipped and smiled; this was 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.”

Harry Reginald Haddon – http://wineandi.wordpress.com

"loosely translated…"

Posted on March 8, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Our wines recently got reviewed by Belgium wine expert Frank Van der Auwera. Using my Afrikaans to try interpret and translate, it all sounds like lovely praise to me…

I get:

‘Rebel of the Cape’ (sounds about right hey Adi)

‘He is a non-conformist by nature, but a super talent in the wine world, Adi Badenhorst, Swartland revelation.’

‘The label might seem kitsch (hmmm…) but what you get in the glass is refreshingly up-to-date…’ (on the Badenhorst White Blend 2007 vintage)

‘The 38 year old Badenhorst is seen as a big renewer of the Cape…’

If your Belgium -Dutch is better than mine, here are some extracts from the article.

genieten:)

Wine Revolutionaries

Posted on March 7, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Bloomberg writer Elin McCoy recently visited the Swartland. She spent time with neighbour, friend and fellow revolutionary Eben Sadie in his cellar, enjoyed a sundowner at the top of the Babylon’s Peak with neighbour Stephan Basson and ended her near perfect day with a braai with us on Kalmoesfontein.

Read her adventure and thoughts on the Swartland here.

Posted on March 2, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Harry Haddon, our fan and friend, recently discovered our “Wine” thanks to Shirley at Vino Pronto .

He has written a lovely flattering blog post about it, you can read the whole article on his blog, Wine & I, but to sum it up, Harry says:

“What is imortant is that it is a wine got that my wahoo flowing, it made me smile, it made me quickly pour another glass, and best of all (this for me is a really important aspect of wine) it made me want another bottle. Quickly.”

Glad we could rock your boat Mr Haddon…

Pictures from "the stomping of the grapes"

Posted on February 21, 2011 by quietriotgirl

On Saturday friends and family gathered at the cellar for the annual “Stomping of the grapes.”

As usual our talented neighbour, photographer Maree Louw captured some lovely moments on camera.

Farm Fashion

Posted on February 21, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Elle Magazine’s Fashion Director Chris Viljoen has started his own Afrikaans Fashion Blog www.dierok.co.za.

Cornelia (Badenhorst, mother and wife extraordinaire) features in his first “closet dilemma” as she tries to find the balance between Mom on a school-run; keeping the builders on their toes; picking veggies in the garden and playing host to various journalists or agents who pop in for lunch with Adi… all in the 40’C Swartland summer…

Read the whole story here.

Harvest news~

Posted on February 18, 2011 by quietriotgirl

It has been a busy few weeks on the farm, but I have finally received a harvest report from Adi… It is filled with Adi charm, so I am not even going to edit it (much…:)

The Harvest team takes a break to have some lunch.

“The winery is running like a dow on rough seas – bumpy but steadfast. The crew are all looking very good and we have picked some amazing parcels of grapes.

New additions are Palomino (or Fransdruif as it’s known by the old timers and not to be confused with your favourite old donkey) from the Moutonshoek area, very old vines, very little juice and destined for our fledgling sherry project; Verdehlo from a tiny vineyard to the north of the Swartland appellation and some Clairette Blanche from an abandoned vineyard on the Paardeberg.

Our own white grapes have almost all been harvested – Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc and Gris, Colombard, Chardonnay to name but a few. The juices are safely in the vats and at different stages of fermentation – the cellar smells incredible and alive. The soothing sounds of natural fermentation…

As far as the red grapes are concerned, we have picked the Syrah/Shiraz blocks and are now starting with the old Cinsault and Grenache. These vines are between 50 and 60 yrs old and are looking the best they have ever looked and are vital in our blend.

Other than that we have a good supply of cold beer and the best espressos in the southern hemisphere to keep us going so have no reason not to make good wines this year.”

Oh, I love it when a plan comes together! Tomorrow night special friends and family gather at the Kalmoesfontein Cellar for the annual foot stomping of some grapes… There will sure be some cool pictures and news to report on Monday, till then… Cheers!

Shuttle service from Cpt International

Posted on February 9, 2011 by quietriotgirl

Visitors rejoice!
There is now a dedicated shuttle service between Cape Town International and Malmesbury / The Riebeek Valley.

Visiting our wonderful winelands just got easier.
The drive is about 97km and will take up to 1hr 20 mins.

Costs:
1 person = R600
2 people = R700
3 people = R800

For this shuttle service, contact Stephen van Schalkwyk.

Just give him notice about two days in advance.

cell: 079.34.10.692

tel: 022.44.81.478

Badenhorst Family Wines

Adi Badenhorst makes wine the traditional way on Kalmoesfontein.

Category Archives: swartland