At last night’s first ever City Bowl Wine Market we converted quite a few “I don’t like Chenin” people into “can I buy two bottles of your Chenin” people.
We poured Secateurs and had lots of fun. We’ll be back. Make sure to check out the next one if you live in Cape Town.
Last night Adi casually mentioned the wine advocate ratings in conversation. Today I went to take a look at the latest scores and, while Adi will never ‘gooi’ them into a tasting or mention them at a trade show, I have to brag.
With a high score of 93 and the lowest score at 87 we score a whopping 90.8% average, something none of us can claim to ever have achieved in high school…
Below is a summery of the scores. Not to shabby hey Nige…
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…
Tonight we will be pouring and tasting at &union. The tasting is fully booked – but if you are confirmed you can look forward to:
Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2013
Secateurs Red Blend 2012
AA Badenhorst Family Wine Red Blend 2010
AA Badenhorst Family Wine White Blend 2010
and the non-vintage Funky White.
All of these will be on sale at cellar door prices after the tasting.
On Thursday we will be back in Ape Town to pour, taste and chat at the first ever Wine Market at the City Bowl Market on Hope Street. Check out the event here.
Hope to see many familiar and new faces there.
MW Tim Atkin traveled SA in 2012 and shared some lovely pictures on his Flickr account.
On Kalmoesfontein he snapped Adi
Gabriel 
some Swartland scenery
as well as some of our vineyard views.
Have a look at the album for more Swartland stunners and beautiful pictures of South African vineyards in general. Thanks Tim!
Good morning from the sunny Swartland.
We are ready to roll with 2013 and looking forward to another great (hot) vintage.
We hope you have had a lovely holiday. We are getting straight into it and our first tasting of the year is at WineGems (at &union in Cape Town’s Bree Street) on Tuesday 15 Jan. RSVP to gemma@gabrielcollective.com to book a spot (only 18 spots!) and we’ll see you there!
cheers.
Another year has come and gone. 2012 has been good to us in the Swartland. Hot summers, a wet winter, a windy spring and as the heat waves roll in again we get ready to retire to the coast.
I asked Adi for some news from the vineyards and he replied “die wingerd lyk mooi” (the vineyards look pretty, literally for those whose Afrikaans isn’t too hot). So there you have it.
Highlights of 2012 include another super successful and fun Swartland Revolution;
And a successful Cape Wine with the other Swartland Independent members;
5 stars in the Platter for our 2010 Family White Blend;
finally getting the “Funky White” approved by the board;
selling our Cinsault at this year’s Cape Winemakers Guild Auction;
watching Jasper bottle his first two personal projects (Die Muskeljaatkat and Die Boskat);
working with enthusiastic harvest interns from Chile, India and Germany
and hosting a bunch of exciting tasting brunch events.
We just wanted to take this opportunity to show some gratitude and love, thank you for your continued support and for helping us grow and reach new heights. We wish you and your family a very blessed festive season, rest well, drive safe and get ready to do great things in 2013.
Season’s greetings and cheers!
Dutch press on the Swartland. As an Afrikaner I can understand *most* of it…
Independent, original and remarkably good it says. We approve!
Quoting Adi is always interesting. As Rebecca Gibb found out recently when she interviewed him for her blog on wine-searcher.
Some of my favourites:
Where did you grow up? I haven’t thrown up in a long time. Not since I was 14.
Where would you like to be buried? I don’t want to be buried. I want to be burned in a pyre of small, new-oak Bordeaux barrels and they can serve f***ing coffee pinotage at the service. The ashes will stay in the urn on the mantelpiece and my children must look at it every day. They are going to take Dad out to look at the view, and put me on the dash of the car when they go on holiday. I’m going to be the best-traveled dead person.
For more ridiculous Adinisms, check out the full interview here.
In the Guardian this weekend Fiona Beckett recommended the Tesco’s “Finest Swartland Shiraz” made by Adi, as a wine that has “financial advantage to stocking up. If you can nab something at a good price you can buy some to drink and some to keep.”
Read the article on What’s worth keeping? And what’s best drunk without delay? by clicking here.
Badenhorst Family Wines 