Winery A.A. Badenhorst
"Wine from the time when there were still hippies."
Andre Adriaan Badenhorst
Andre Adriaan Badenhorst, known as Adi, grew up among the vineyards of Constantia, a southern suburb of Cape Town. He was allowed to make his first wine at the age of 13. Today, as a natural wine producer, he is a much-discussed winemaker, a bird of paradise and a "local legend".
AA Badenhorst Family Wines cultivates an area of 180 hectares of bush vines in the Swartland appellation, around 30 kilometres north-east of the capital. The winery was founded in 2008 by Adi and his cousin Hein Badenhorst. "Their grandfather was the manager of Groot Constantia for 46 years. Their fathers were born there and worked together in Constantia, at a time when people still ate fresh vegetables, drank Cinsault and hippies were still present."
After his studies, Adi gained experience at Château Angelus, with Alain Graillot on the Rhone and in New Zealand, but also at home, at Simonsig, Steenberg and Groote Post. He worked as a winemaker on the Stellenbosch estate of Rustenberg for nine years.
When he and his cousin took over the current Kalmoesfontei farm, which was last run in the 1930s, it quickly became clear that they wanted to produce wine in a natural, very traditional way.
The vineyards with granite, clay and slate soils are predominantly planted with Chenin Blanc, Cinsault and Grenache. Most of the vines date back to the 1950s and 1960s. "They are not irrigated and are cultivated as organically as possible." Some of the grapes are bought in.
The whole grapes are processed in the cellar. Fermentation takes place in open wooden vats or concrete tanks. The red wines are allowed to macerate for up to four months after alcoholic fermentation and then mature further in large barrels. Apart from sulphur, no additives are used. "Our inspiration is the great old wines of South Africa and the discarded grape varieties whose bottles can be found in the forgotten corners of old cellars before modern methods changed the purity of the wines."
© Photos: A.A. Badenhorst