The Secateurs Story

We have received lots of praise for our innovative labels, designed by Peet Pienaar, but this article explains the story behind the Secateurs label very well.


Tim James tells the history behind the iconic yellow label and agrees, it is one of the best wine labels on the market.


“The labels brilliantly correlate to the wines — a chenin blanc and a shiraz-based red blend. All the sophistication in the world is summoned up and subversively used for an effect of unpretentious, even naive, honest and warmly human engagement. “

 


Drink Out?

Clare Hu from Eat Out magazine recently spent some time with Adi on Kalmoesfontein and I think she sussed him out well.


“Nothing can quite prepare you for the whirlwind that is Adi Badenhorst. Within five minutes of meeting him I am sitting in his bakkie being driven at top speeds along bumpy dirt tracks through his vineyards, young son clambering around and two clearly beserk dogs running in front.”


I can just imagine little Samuel on the back of the bakkie and yes, those dogs are special:)


Read the full article here.

Racking the Red (2010)

Adi recently started racking the 2010 red wines out of the 4000L wooden vats on Kalmoesfontein. The rackings were done when the moon was just right and just after September, which means it’s time to actually do something in the cellar for a change…

 Step one, look serious while opening the valve… 
 When the flow decreases, open the door with manly force… 

 Watch the beautiful wine flow out… 
 Here you can see the lees at the bottom of the vat.
and lastly Adi makes sure all the wine is siphoned off the lees…



Exciting stuff as another vintage of great wine is on its way… 

May the Force of Vriesenhof be With You…

Father(-in-law) Jan Boland Coetzee receives praise for his amazing Chardonnay on Wine Goggle. 

Cornelia Badenhorst (nee Coetzee) grew up on Vriesenhof, where charming Chardonnay is still being made every day.


“In Beaune, capital of Burgundy, Danie de Wet and Jan Boland Coetzee are recognised as having of the finest Chardonnay minds outside of spitting distance from the Hospice de Beaune. Since the early 1980’s they have worked tirelessly towards capturing the essence of the wonderful Chardonnay grape 10 000kms from its spiritual home through the kind of tireless toil and nurturing it takes to make a sensitive foreigner feel at home.”


Read the entire article here…


Love from Winchester

Stone Vine and Sun raves about the Secateurs Chenin 2009:

Here is a terrific wine we haven’t been able to recommend as we would have liked to, as most of our first shipment vanished very fast: we have just had more in from the Cape.  It’s a wine which is ripe and rich enough to make a terrific aperitif, but also has weight and complexity to ensure it can stand up to strong-flavoured food, either fish or fowl.
We always said we would keep an eye on the ebullient, fascinatingly hairy, parrot-breeder Adie Badenhorst, who was the chief winemaker at Rustenberg. He surfaced last year with a decrepit winery and some family-owned land on the Paardeberg. This wine is from dry-farmed old Chenin Blanc vines in Swartland: to us it has a wonderful texture and displays exotic fruit with honey and even marzipan nuances, but here are a couple of press recommendations, the first from the August 2010 report of The Wine Gang, and the second by Jancis Robinson last year.
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AA Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2009
Swartland, South Africa
Dry White (Screwcap), 14.0% abv
Secateurs, made from vines over 40 years old, is Adi Badenhorst’s second wine – second in the sense of ranking rather than chronology – and it’s both extremely good and good value. It’s rich and fleshy with tropical, peachy fruit and nutty richness lifted by vivacious citrus and mineral flavours.
Score: Score: 90/100  90/100 
One of this month’s Bunch of Five Best Value Wines
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A A Badenhorst, Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2009 Swartland
8 Nov 2009 by JR
RS 2 g/l
A fabulous bargain. Very fresh, floral and honeyed with masses of intensity and flavour (presumably because of the age of the vines) but with a satisfyingly dry finish. VGV. 2009 to 2011.  17/20