AA Badenhorst Raaigras Grenache 2024
£44.75
The wine
A single-vineyard Grenache from one of the Swartland’s oldest plantings, Raaigras is Badenhorst at its most precise and perfumed. Old bush vines, dryland farmed on decomposed granite.
Pale and fragrant, it leads with red cherry, dried strawberry, rose and white pepper, carried on silky tannins and a fresh, mineral line. Delicate in colour but quietly powerful, and ageworthy.
Beautiful with lamb, pork, game birds and earthy dishes such as mushroom or hard cheese. Serve cool, with a little air if young.
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.
