The Curator Red Blend

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The Curator Red Blend

Weight	750 oz
Red Varietal	Red Blends
Color/Category	Red
Vintage	2017
Country	South Africa
Region	Swartland
Size	750ml
Number Per Case	12

Harvest and Vintage Notes

The lucky grapes grow in the Swartland region, close to the wild West Coast of South Africa. They are grown by 4 different farmers on a multitude of different sites – mainly granite and slate soils. The grapes are acclimatised to the Swartland and always deliver consistency in flavour and aromas when they arrive in the cellar.

Simple and straightforward is how we like to keep it! Grapes are picked by hand, chilled overnight and then destemmed into tank for fermentation. Extraction is done by pump overs and punch downs, depending on the type of tank – and not that much because we don’t want to extract all those harsh tannins from the skins. We go easy on them and let the grapes give us what they want without being too forceful.

This wine is matured mostly in concrete tanks and old casks – it’s blended really early so that the components get some time together to integrate properly before the wine is bottled. 15 months maturation is the norm before we start thinking of bottling.

Grapes: Shiraz, Mourvedre, and Viognier

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A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines are made in the Paardeberg area in Swartland district of South Africa. Owned by cousins Hein and Adi Badenhorst restored the cellar on the farm that was last used in the 1930’s to make natural wines in the traditional manner. The vineyards are made up of very old bush-vines planted with Chenin Blanc (average 40 year old vines), Cinsault (average 45 years), and Grenache (average 58 years). The vines are unirrigated and farmed as biologically as possible. The vineyards are planted on East, North, and South facing slopes bringing tremendous variety to the fruit.

Region: Swartland, South Africa

Year founded: 2007

Proprietors: The handsome cousins, Hein and Adi Badenhorst

Winemaker: Adi Badenhorst

Size of property: 60 ha (148.5 acres) total, 25 ha (62 acres) planted

Terroir: The winery is located on a mountain range which is a granite outcrop and three distinctive types of granitic soil are found on this property – specifically Paardeberg, Lammershoek and Lemoenfonein granites. The soils are extremely old and considered by many to be “low potential” as vine growth is not as luxuriant as in other areas. Yields are generally quite low, averaging 3 – 4 tons/ha for Chenin Blanc. No irrigation is used as the soils have the potential to store a good amount of water and slowly release during the growing season. Rainfall is around 480mm/yr falling mainly in the winter months of May-August/September. Winters tend to be cold and wet and leaf fall is quite sudden with the onset of Winter. Otherwise, the weather is pretty much Mediterranean.

Annual production: 10,000 cases

Varieties cultivated:
White: Roussane, Grenache Blanc, Viognier, Chenin Blanc and Sauvignon Blanc
Red: Shiraz, Mourvedre, and Cinsault

Adi Badenhorst

Andre Adriaan Badenhorst’s grandfather was the general manager at Groot Constantia for 46 years. His father was born there. Adi grew up between the vineyards and spent his time picking (stealing) grapes. He made his first wine with Jean Daneel at thirteen. Adi studied at Elsenburg and went on to work the harvest at Chateau Angelus and Alain Graillot in France, Wither Hills in New Zealand and locally at Simonsig, Steenberg and Groote Post. He spent nine years as winemaker at the esteemed Stellenbosch estate, Rustenberg.

In 2008, he bought a 60-hectare piece of land in the Paardeberg with his cousin Hein. Today, they practice biological farming and make natural wines in the traditional manner.

Today, Adi Badenhorst is an award winning winemaker, member of the Cape Winemakers Guild, founding member of the Swartland Revolution and Swartland Independent and an ever evolving Vigneron.

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