Badenhorst Sécateurs Riviera Orange 2025

Adi Badenhorst grew up stealing grapes at Groot Constantia, where his grandfather was the general manager for 46 years. He made his first wine at thirteen. Worked harvest at Château Angelus and Alain Graillot in France, Wither Hills in New Zealand, and a bunch of places in South Africa. Spent nine years as winemaker at Rustenberg. Then in 2008, he and his cousin Hein bought a piece of land in Swartland and started their own thing. Organic farming, natural wines, traditional methods. They've since grown to 160 hectares.

This is their skin-macerated wine, and we call it an orange because it has all these perfumy aromas that come out when you let the grapes soak in a very pretty way. It comes from an old Chenin vineyard planted in 1972, next to a dry riverbed near Paardeberg. Sandy decomposed granite soil. They also threw in Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, and Viognier because why not. The grapes get a mix of whole bunch and destemmed, fermented in concrete with native yeasts, then pressed to old casks on the gross lees for about ten months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The wine is sappy and savoury and refreshing. Quince, black tea, juniper, a little clove, a granitic tang. Grapefruit, olives, pomelo. The mouthfeel is grippy, with a refreshing tannin structure.

Drink it while reading that book you cannot put down at Bickford Park slopes.