AA Badenhorst Caperitif NV
£19.25
The wine
A revival of a lost Cape classic. Caperitif is an aromatised aperitif wine built on a base of Badenhorst Chenin Blanc, infused with a long list of local and traditional botanicals, from wormwood and citrus to indigenous Cape herbs.
Bittersweet, fragrant and complex, with orange peel, dried herbs, florals and a gentle bitter finish. A genuinely characterful alternative to vermouth, and the missing ingredient in a proper vintage cocktail.
Serve well chilled over ice with a twist, or use in a White Negroni, Martini or your own creations. Once opened, keep refrigerated.
The producer
AA Badenhorst Family Wines
View all AA Badenhorst Family Wines winesFew names capture the free spirit of South Africa’s Swartland quite like AA Badenhorst. The wines are made by Adi Badenhorst, one of the leading figures of the Swartland Revolution, who founded the family winery with his cousin Hein in 2008 on a run-down farm high on the Paardeberg mountain.
That farm, Kalmoesfontein, remains the heart of everything. Its old bush vines of Chenin Blanc, Cinsault and Grenache are rooted in decomposed granite and iron-rich koffieklip, dry-farmed and tended with great care. Adi is a farmer first, doing the real work in the vineyard and stepping back in the cellar, where a minimal-intervention hand lets each site speak for itself.
The result is a range of striking honesty and character, from the brilliantly judged Secateurs Chenin Blanc and red blend that punch far above their weight, to layered field blends and old-vine single-vineyard bottlings. For drinkers who want authentic, terroir-driven AA Badenhorst wines with a real sense of place, this is the Swartland at its most compelling.
