A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines

Adi was raised on a Constantia wine farm and had made wine by the age of thirteen. He studied at Elsenberg, did harvests with Château Angelus and with Alain Graillot and spent nine years as winemaker at Rustenburg in Stellenbosch. Then he fell for a tired old farm on the mountain called Kalmoesfontein. It has old bush vines of Chenin Blanc, Cinsault and Grenache, planted from the 1950s to the 1970s on ancient granite and ironstone.

Adi sees himself as a farmer first. The team uses compost, cover crops and mulch and no herbicides, and grows around 70 grape varieties. They also make a vermouth flavoured with local fynbos.