A.A. Badenhorst

Looking like a cross between a character from Lord of the Rings and a member of 1980s country rock band ZZ Top, Adi Badenhorst is one of the most colourful characters in wine. Straight-talking, ironic and never short of an entertaining anecdote (a recent visit saw him tell a story about how he ended up with a freezer full of dead parrots), he also happens to be an incredibly talented winemaker.

One of the so-called Swartland Pioneers, Badenhorst is in no small way responsible for revitalising what is arguably now South Africa’s hottest – and coolest – wine region. The secret to his success is the 180 hectares of unirrigated old bush vines of (mostly) Chenin Blanc, Cinsault and Grenache, occasionally supplemented by whatever else happened to have been planted in the region 60 years ago.

With great old-vine fruit from mountain slopes, and low intervention winemaking with little or no oak-influence, Badenhorst’s wines are not just an expression of a place, but a homage to a time gone by (his Red Blend is even foot-trodden).