AA Badenhorst Red Blend Swartland red wine vegan wine dry South Africa (6 x 0.75l)

• STORY: "I'm proud of the Swartland." Coming from Adi Badenhorst, that sounds like the most beautiful declaration of love. For a long time, the region north-west of Cape Town was a faceless area where only the large wine cooperatives picked their grapes. Top wines were made elsewhere. But sometimes it takes real lateral thinkers to recognize hidden potential and start a revolution.

• VINIFICATION: Grapes from non-irrigated old bush vines. Hand picking, crushing the grapes with your feet. Spontaneous fermentation in concrete tanks. Overpumping twice a day during fermentation. Is 6 months on the mash. pressing. 16 months aging in old wooden barrels and concrete tanks.

• AROMA: Dense ruby ​​red. Complex, intense nose with hints of blackberries, cherries, liquorice and a hint of pepper.

• ASSESSMENT: Lavender and cassis on the palate. An extreme tension, freshness and elegance. Spicy dense and yet with a sensational agility between heavy and lean. Minerally fragrant and aromatic, underlaid with the finest tannins. Textural structure, fragrant, ethereal, floating - simply a grandiose, intellectual wine.

• SERVING RECOMMENDATION: Lamb dishes, rabbit, beef with vegetables

"I'm proud of the Swartland." From Adi Badenhorst's lips, that sounds like the most beautiful declaration of love. For a long time, the region north-west of Cape Town was a faceless area where only the large wine cooperatives picked their grapes. Top wines were made elsewhere. But sometimes it takes real lateral thinkers to recognize hidden potential and start a revolution. Adi Badenhorst is one of those guys. He loves doing things differently. One notices immediately: this man has fire, wine flows in his veins, visions shine from his eyes. As the son and grandson of famous winemakers, he practically grew up between rows of vines. At the age of 13 he made his first own wine, after working on the Rhône, in New Zealand and on the famous Rustenberg Estate he acquired the Kalmoesfont, a farm in Paardeberg. Since then he has not only transformed his own winery, but also the entire Swartland. Together with four other winegrowers, he started the "Swartland Revolution" in 2010. The credo: Rethink the old, focus on the tried and tested. These included in particular the two great assets of the region: the considerable stock of old vines - mainly Rhône Varietals - and the excellent granite, iron and slate soils. From these conditions, which have long been underestimated, Adi and his colleagues press surprising and stunning red and white wines. They try to intervene as little as possible in the natural vinification processes and press wines that are rich in finesse, elegant and disarmingly cool. The revolution is now bearing fruit. The wine world has taken notice of the Swartland. "The Swartland is about to slip out of its infancy," says Adi with a big grin and adds "I'm looking forward to growing up".