A lightly oaked blend of mainly Shiraz, with Cabernet Sauvignon, Carignan, Cinsault and Grenache, bold but wholly smooth. A bottle slips down all too easily with grilled meat. Now-2014

Product Code: BAD610

It was only just over a year ago that we shipped for the first time from Adi Badenhorst - he of the interesting facial hair, top parrot-breeder and winemaker of rare genius - after he gave up his post as the head winemaker at Rustenberg. Alongside his family-owned vineyards at Kalmoesfontein farm on the Paardeberg, Adi’s cellar is now looking fully renovated and he was in ebullient form when visited in March. His wines have found favour everywhere - from our band of customers to wine critics around the world.

What is his secret? Well, he is crafting wines in a very traditional, minimal interventionist manner, using concrete fermentation tanks and old oak, often big old barrels which give no wood tannins at all. Whilst his professes total naivety along the lines of “Ach, man, we dump it all in here and it just makes itself”, he is also highly thoughtful. He prefers to leave his reds, post-fermentation, on their skins for 6-12 months - as he believes this delivers smooth tannins, texture and suppleness. He is also moving towards picking earlier, to avoid jamminess and to seek a more perfumed, Rhône-like style.

The rosé is a new arrival and we are the only UK shippers to date. We tasted a tank in the spring and found this blend, from Adi’s younger vines of Cinsault, Grenache and Syrah, so delicious that we pushed him to bottle it immediately.