Grensloos Chenin Blanc – 2023

The first vintage of this wine, a blend of chenin blanc from the property (previously bottled as single-vineyard wines Skool, Golden Slopes, Klip Kop, Kelder). Sliced pears, honey, chamomile, wildflowers, lemons, salted almonds and seaweed make for an aromatically complex, intense and flavorful wine. It’s full-bodied, creamy and layered. Delicious and very fresh too. From vines planted from 1968 to 1971. Drink or hold.

Made with fruit from certified heritage vines, the A. A. Badenhorst Family Wines 2023 Swartland Grensloos Chenin Blanc strikes a beautiful balance between intensity and elegance. There is nothing excessive on the bouquet, where elements of stone fruit, saffron and crushed stone converge smoothly to add to the wine’s nuanced appeal. The Grensloos provides a beautiful window onto the purity of the grape. The wine is finely textured with medium-bodied appeal and laced with mineral definition throughout. 2024 – 2035

The 2023 Chenin Blanc Grensloos is a new addition to the range. Grensloos translates to “without borders.” This cuvée comprises several vineyards, around 30% from Jakkobsfontein on deep red gravel soils, matured in concrete and 400-liter casks. It has a beautifully defined bouquet of yellow fruit and hints of dried honey. The palate is well defined with a fine bead of acidity and touches of peach skin, quince, white pepper and fennel. Very harmonious and poised, this is a superb debut. 2024 -2032

Adi Badenhorst was out in the vineyard on the Kalmoesfontein farm, planting new vines with his team on an overcast day in Swartland. (Readers will see a video on Vinous.) We took a few minutes to tour the expanded vineyard following his acquisition of some 200 hectares. Apart from supplying fruit for his own estate, this has become a source for some of the Cape’s best winemakers seeking top-quality fruit. Badenhorst told me that he has been working on pruning with Rosa Kruger, suckering a bit later in order to obtain more time on the vine. As I mentioned a couple of reports ago, he parsed out some of his more esoteric limited cuvées, although the inquisitive side of his personality means he always pulls one or two surprises out of his pocket. This time, it is a couple of sherries he’s dabbled with behind the scenes. Readers will find these in the report under The Saldanha Wine & Spirit Co.

As I have mentioned in recent articles, Badenhorst now has what I feel is a more consistent range of wines compared to ten years ago. He has an inquisitive mind that could occasionally lead to cuvées that did not quite work, but hey, wine needs people to take risks, experiment and try new things. At least in Secateurs, he has a very successful and instantly recognizable entry-level brand. That’s not to say that his wines have lost their edge, which is what many find attractive about them, including myself. There’s always a scintilla of funkiness. Readers should keep their eyes peeled for an impressive debut in the form of his 2023 Grensloos Chenin Blanc.

Grensloos rounds up all of Adi Badenhorst’s single vineyard sites, most of which used to be bottled on their own. Using grapes from five sites on Jakkalsfontein and Kalmoesfontein, it’s very gently wooded in foudres and concrete tanks, with lots of leesy richness, stony concentration and layers of beeswax, white flowers, honey and citrus. More than the sum of its parts. 2025 – 2035

A harmonious version, finely meshed and lightly mouthwatering, with a lightly zesty feel to the flavors of ripe nectarine fruit, lime pith, green almond and graham cracker, plus hints of grated ginger, white pepper and stone. Drink now through 2031.