Adi Badenhorst is perhaps the South African wine industry’s “enfant terrible” and is famous for being a totally free spirit, but for all his maverick character he is serious about farming intelligently, with a respect for soil and nature, and making wines that speak uniquely of their place. Adi and his cousin Hein bought the Kalmoesfontein farm in 2007 and Adi left his position as winemaker at Rustenberg in Stellenbosch to establish A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines. One of the original four pioneers of “The Swartland Revolution”, along with The Sadie Family Wines (Eben Sadie), Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines (Andrea and Chris Mullineux), and Porseleinberg (Callie Louw), from the beginning a core belief was to make wine with minimal intervention and additions – with wild yeasts, and limited new oak – to best express the Swartland terroir.
A pair of blends – a white and a red (the Kalmoesfontein pair) – are at the core of production at A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines and are Mediterranean-inspired ensembles, but Adi has become increasingly known for his limited production single vineyard wines, many from old, dry-farmed, bush vines. These wines have a remarkable spark of energy, that reminds us of Adi himself.
