A fine wine you'll want to share! AA Badenhorst's Family Red is a fabulous red blend, led by noble variety Shiraz. Its nose is brooding but complex with aromas of black cherries, perfume, pepper and liquorice. On the palate, the entry is rich with flavours of dark berry fruit and lavender, while the finish is dry and reminiscent of currant and savoury notes. Tannins are forthcoming but well incorporated and ripe. This wine is quite shy while young and will continue to develop and become more expressive over the next 8 years from vintage and beyond.
About the Wines & Winemaker
The vineyards – Mostly old bushvines planted in the 1950’s and 1960’s to Chenin Blanc, Cinsault and Grenache. The vines are unirrigated and farmed as biologically as possible. The vineyards are planted on north, east, and south facing slopes bringing tremendous variety to the fruit. Fruit from other selected sites within the appellation are also purchased to complete the final blends.
The soils – Three distinct types of granites are found here, namely the Paardeberg-, Lammershoek- and Lemoenfontein-type plus different sub-surface geology including clay, weathered granite and some serious shale.
The winemaking – All fruit, red and white, is whole bunch-handled so no crushing or destemming takes place. The whites are tranferred directly to old casks or into concrete tanks for fermentation and ageing. The red grapes are fermented in concrete tanks and open wooden kuipe. The post fermentation maceration is lengthy – up to 4 months -whereafter the wines are put to cask or 4000L foudres. No additions are done to the grapes other than sulfur before and after fermentation.
Our inspiration – The great old wines of South Africa and the discarded varietals, the bottles of which can be found in the forgotten corners of old cellars before modern methods and fame came along and changed the purity of the wines.
