AA Badenhorst Secateurs Swartland Rose 2026
£12.75
The wine
A lively and juicy rose with aromas of redcurrant, rose water, wild strawberry and stone fruits. On the palate, vibrant acidity is complemented by the wine's supple texture.
Straight Mourvedre, picked by hand in the cool of early morning to hold on to the primary aromatics, then whole-bunch direct pressed into tank so only the most delicate colour is drawn. The juice settled overnight, was blended, and fermented on indigenous yeasts in a mix of stainless steel and foudre, which is where that supple texture comes from. Adi Badenhorst farms varied slopes of ancient granite, quartz and iron-rich koffieklip in the Swartland, hands-on in the vineyard and deliberately minimal in the cellar.
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.
