The Swartland Revolution, 11-12 April 2025, 15 years on from the 1^st Swartland Revolution, sparked the interest of many, including a couple of lucky people from JN Wine! So off we headed for the Cape for a whirlwind tour of the wineries we already work with to taste new vintages and to catch up on all things vinious and add a few new possibilities.

A A Badenhorst Farm in Paaardeberg

We started in Swartland, visiting A A Badenhorst Farm in Paardeberg, which is in the most unique setting surrounded by the Paardeberg mountains, about an hour from Capetown. We stayed in the beautiful winemaker’s cottage on the farm with a fridge stocked with wines and delicious sour dough bread and free-range eggs. What more could anyone ask for. 

On our first evening we had an informal tasting of some wines with Adi, including the new vintage of Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2024, knock out fruit and quite simply great value for money. Up next was the Kalmoesfontein White Blend 2022, a blend of Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Grenache Blanc & Gris, Verdelho, Colombard, Viognier, Chardonnay and Semillon. This is an incredibly textured wine, layers of flavour with stone fruits and just delicious and great with food. The single vineyard Steen followed, clean and fresh with huge depth of fruit and minerality from the old vines. Next, a 2012 Cinsault (wow! that grape can age) which was interesting as we normally drink this grape in blends, rarely on its own with so much bottle age. 

Then, an old favourite of mine, the Kalmoesfontein Red Blend 2022, a blend of Shiraz, Mourvedre, Grenache and Cinsault which has loads of character, ripe fruit and juicy acidity and plenty of length. These wines are just a pleasure to drink, not over worked, showing what can be done with minimum intervention when you have good fruit and old vines. 

The winemaker’s cottage is very close to all the action, so the following morning we took a wander up to the cellar for a morning coffee and catch-up with the winemaking team. The exceptionally superior coffee machine is located by the turntable and were the first two things purchased when Adi and his cousin Hein purchased the farm in 2008. Before our delicious cortado we tasted the new vintage Secateurs Riviera from tank a blend of Chenin Blanc 63%, Bukettraube 20%, Sauvignon Blanc 9%, Roussanne 8%. This new hipster blend has just hit the shelves of our shop in Crossgar for those of you who appreciate orange wine. 

The cellar is full of many gems, including sherry, one of Adi’s many projects, which was getting the orange wax tops put on ready for sale. 

 

Fram Wines

Off to visit a new kid on the block, Tinus Kruger of Fram Wines about 90 minutes’ drive through rugged countryside further into the Swartland. We arrived at a remote house and cellar where we were met by Tinus and his chocolate labrador. We had a tasting of his wines in the cellars and think there is room for them in our portfolio, so keep an eye out.

The wines:

• Chardonnay 2024, very drinkable, plenty of ripe fruit and body, well made and good value.
• Chenin Blanc 2024 had lovely juicy lime fruit, clean, fresh good acidity.
• A Grenache Gris 2023 made like a red wine with skin contact for 2 weeks, plenty of tannins on this one, but good fruit and acid to balance. 

• Swartland Shiraz 2024, super fruit, surprisingly savoury, good balanced tannins and long finish.
• Cinsault 2023, pretty attractive nose, more perfumed than I expected with surprisingly good acidity from ungrafted vines on a very dry farm.
• Pinotage 2021, a superb example of how far Pinotage has come. I am not the biggest fan of this grape, but I have to say I was converted with this wine. I know there has been some interest in a more top end Pinotage and this is it!

Back in the trusty vehicle and over the Swartand hills via Riebeeck-Kasteel, quick stop in the beautiful Kloovenvurg Wine and Olive Estate for lunch and onto Porseleinberg.

Porseleinberg

Porseleinberg is in this incredibly remote spot up on a hill in Swartland called Porcelein mountain a rugged outcrop of rock near Riebeek Kasteel. Porseleinberg produces one wine from Syrah and since its inaugural vintage in 2010 it is firmly ranked as one of South Africa’s top reds.

It’s a labour of love, this is an impossibly difficult place to farm due to extreme terroir and very limited water. No better man for the job than Callie Louw who has been here since 2009. He is very down to earth and seems to not only be a talented wine maker but also enjoys all the challenges that goes with the farm. He works organically, using cover crops on every row of vines, he doesn’t turn the soil and plants differing plants per row depending on vines nutritional needs, trying to build organic matter on the soil as it is pure rock and needs nutrition as well as something to keep moisture in. 

It is a hard place to farm but Callie can turn his hand to most things, such as pumping water 8 km uphill, fixing pipes for a few drops of water to irrigate, running a printing press for his own bottling and labelling run, tinkering with his much-loved John Deere tractor etc etc. You get the picture!

We arrived bringing the Irish weather with us - thunder and a massive downpour, the first rains since September, and despite Callie having other weather related things on his mind, conducted a tour of the winery and cellar. Sadly, we didn’t get to see the magnificent view, but we did see the printing press and taste a selection of Porseleinberg. Callie uses whole bunches, wild fermentation in concrete tanks and then the wines mature in concrete eggs and foudre.

The wines:

2023; a dry vintage, seriously concentrated fruit, still very young but will be stellar.

2022; picked late, above average rainfall, followed by a heatwave so not as concentrated as 2023.

2021; slightly cooler vintage, great fruit, lick of spice on a lifted finish and 2011; tiny vintage, still a beast, so concentrated and still has another decade plus in it.   

We left Callie to attend to the leaks and drips from the downpour and went back over the hills, through a couple of farms to Badenhorst. 

 Day 2 at A A Badenhorst

The following morning, we got a tour of the farms Kalmoesfontein and Jakkalsfontein from Adi. The old vines and new plantings, he sells many of his grapes to others in the area.

We got a tour of where Adi is making & storing his brandy, a new chai where he stores his sherry, new plantings of oak and cork trees, his parrot sanctuary et al.

Another quick coffee and off to Stellenbosch!

Reyneke

Stellenbosch is less than an hour away and our first visit was to Reyneke, Polkardrai farm. Johan, (viticulturist) and Barbera Melck (winemaker) were both waiting to host our tasting. This is one of the most beautiful farms you will ever visit, such care and attention to every detail. The biodynamic practices follow through in the cellar where you will find no artificial additives, commercially cultivated yeasts or fermentation aids. I have been such a fan of these wines for years; they are so pure and really have super minerality and just such a joy. 

We tasted across the range from the organic Chenin and Syrah, both great value for money.

The Biodynamic range Sauvignon, most of which seems to go to USA, Chenin Blanc 2024 a very energetic wine – definitely worth looking out for when our next shipment lands.

Syrah 2021 – such a treat, a blend of four sites on the farm, 50% whole bunch, foudre aged, for me the star of the farm. The reserve wines use new oak and have a different level of concentration. 

Finally, the Cornerstone 2021 a blend of 60% Cabernet Franc, the rest Cabernet Sauvignon, destemmed, fermented in concrete tanks, two pump overs a day. It gets a bit of oak say 6 months or so. The original Cornerstone was to raise funds for local families and the school where their children go. This is now the cornerstone of the whole farm.

Rest assured every bottle you buy from this vineyard the money is ploughed back into all parts of the farm.

Vinimark

On to the most impressive Vinimark offices in Stellenbosch town for a quick tasting of the Long Beach range, look out for the new vintage; 

Long Beach Shiraz which is pretty good for the price.

Barista Pinotage and the Kroner sparkling range which is an interesting project.. and who knows maybe we’ll need a sparkling from the Cape one day!

Lunch in Stellenbosch gave us a good chance to catch up with Barbera, who seems so much a part of Reyneke now its hard to imagine she wasn’t always there. This is a bustling town full of life, many of the winemakers we know so well from SA came through the university here studying either an agricultural or viticultural degree. 

Rustenberg

A short drive to Rustenberg also just outside Stellenbosch where Murray Barlow had the full range out for a most comprehensive tasting. Some new grape varieties we don’t stock but will definitely infiltrate into our range even if just for a few new and interesting wines for the JN Wine Club. 

• Chenin 2023- small production, interesting to try.
• Sauvignon Blanc 2023 we currently carry this wine, its good value for the money and definitely has its followers.
• Wild Ferment Sauvignon 2024- just a bit of fun for the winemaking team, its expressive, lots of citrus character and blossom, good food wine.
• Wild Ferment Chardonnay 2024 – younger vines, not ready for the more serious Stellenbosch Chardonnay.

 

• Stellenbosch Chardonnay 2023 – superb glass of wine, 10 months on lees and barrel fermented. Really serious but still affordable.
• Five Soldiers 2023, we drove up to this single vineyard the following morning, a very special site in the farm right up the mountainside, facing the ocean. Huge depth of flavour, concentration and spends 15 months in oak. A real treat. Later that evening at dinner Murray opened the 2014 Five Soldiers which was as fresh as a daisy still. 

• Malbec 2023, spends about 15 months in barrel, 10% new oak, soft and floral unlike big Argentinian Malbecs, definitely a contender for the JN Wine Club.
• Cabernet Sauvignon 2023 a firm favourite at JN, younger blocks than what goes into John X, same expertise and really a great value for money textbook cabernet. 

• John X Merriman 2022, this harvest was the latest they ever picked, finished on 23 April. The wine is made up of Cabernet, Merlot a little Petit Verdot and Malbec, only ever estate fruit and spends 23 months in oak of which 1/3 is new oak. Super.
• The final red is the Peter Barlow 2022, single vineyard cabernet, late ripening clone on a late ripening site, serious fruit and this wine spends 20 months in new oak. Always the last block to be picked such beautiful wine, really delicious and would stand up against any Cabernet. 

 

At dinner we had the privilege of drinking the 2011 which still had so much life in it.  We finished the tasting with a bit of fun a Muscat de Alexandria which was very floral and super viscosity and intensity and not cloying on the finish.

The Barlow hospitality was second to none, we stayed the night and had at the most delicious dinner in the family home accompanied by some incredible wine of older vintages as previously mentioned. 

The following morning well fuelled by a hearty breakfast, the South African’s love a decent breakfast, no little pastry and coffee here! Murray gave us a tour of the farm and we drove up in a 4 x 4 after the previous day’s downpour up the side of the mountain to see the vineyards, single sites of Five Soldiers and Peter Barlow and the views were spectacular.  We managed to spot a young springbok escapee from the neighbouring farm. Another highlight! 

Newton Johnson

Then off to the Upper Hemel en Aarde Valley to the Newton Johnson Winery, near Hermanus. The NJ family moved to the valley in 1995, built a cellar, and started planting vines shortly after. We were greeted by Bevan, one of Dave and Felicity’s sons. It really is a family affair, as Gordon their other son and his wife Nadia, are the winemakers. Bevan conducted our tasting in one of the most scenic tasting rooms I have ever been to. A glass window across one side of the building looking out at the vineyard slopes and across to the ocean. 

The Wines:

• We started with the 2023 Albarino, very fresh, great maritime climate as only 4 km from the Atlantic Ocean. Touch of citrus fruit and lovely texture, superb cool vintage 13.5%
• Southend Chardonnay 2023 – from one of the cooler slopes with slower ripening, touch of oak but not too much as this shows cool fruit and a lick of salinity. It’s a big favourite in JN Wine as it’s a great glass of Chardonnay without breaking the bank!
• Family Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 – lovely fresh fruit, oak but in background, lime and citrus aromas, good body and finish is long with a touch of butter on finish. Understated but a very serious wine.
• Walker Bay Pinot Noir 2024 – this was a good vintage for the reds and this was recently bottled. Good perfume, violets and Turkish delight on the nose, powdery tannins very approachable, a delicious glass of Pinot Noir for the price, good introduction before moving up to the big boys.
• Family Vineyards Pinot Noir 2023 – combination of 4 vineyards, vines 15-20 years old. Aromas textbook cold soak cherry fruit but not overt. On the palate absolutely perfect fermented with 20% whole bunch and a portion aged in new oak, all Burgundian oak. Has a delicate freshness and very precise tannins. Absolutely delicious.

• Sea Dragon 2023 – comes from the oldest vineyard PN, was the sole component of their first vintage of family Vineyards PN 2008. It is stunning, so elegant and floral with a lick of spice and very fine tannins. The star of the show for me.
• Windandsea 2023 - this wine comes from the vineyard we were viewing ie opposite the tasting room. 100% clay soils so much more muscular style, denser more compact with thicker tannins. These two single vineyard pinots are both superb and will probably split the room. For me personally its Sea Dragon 100%. But that’s the beauty of wine, it is so subjective.

We finished with the Falkirk range, we don’t sell these yet.. Falkirk in Scotland is where the Newton family hails from and it means speckled church for the stone structure that has stood there since the 6^th century. The name represents the 1 ½ hecatare vineyard site of deep deposits of stone and rock where only Rhone varietals could grow.

• Falkirk Grenache 2022 – Quite beefy and muscular, black fruit with sweet spices and fynbos. A more robust glass of wine.
• Falkirk Syrah 2022 – bigger fuller with a touch of dried mandarin on the nose. Not northern Rhone but not Syrah from new world either. Lots of spice and herbaceous undertones.
• Falkirk Mouvedre 2022 – dusty black fruits, touch of salinity on the finish, tannins soft and a lovely savoury glass of wine.

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After our tasting we continued to soak up the spectacular view from the restaurant and had a gourmet lunch accompanied by a glass of NJ wine. Honestly if you ever get the chance to visit this is a destination stop!

Boekenhoutskloof

Off to Boekenhoutskloof, established in 1993 by Marc Kent with 6 other partners. Based in Franschhoek although they do source grapes from top vineyards around the western cape.

It was a beautiful day, so Evan Alexander took us on a walk around the homestead and along a path in the winery which has recently been restored through woodland with quirky wolves made from recycled wood aka the logo of Wolftrap. All Boekenhoutskloof vineyards are farmed organically, cover crops used to protect the soil all wines fermented with natural yeasts.  

We met Gottfried Mocke, winemaker at Boekenhoutskloof since 2015. It is the dream team: the combination of Gottfried’s technical precision as winemaker along with Marc Kent’s love for gadgets in the cellar, a self-declared technical guy rather than viticulturist, who loves all gizmo’s in the cellar enabling serious investment making everything super-efficient all adding to better wines. 

The cellars are pretty impressive, over 2/3 underground, pretty much all designed by Marc. They have 600 litre barrels and demi-muids for the Syrah. 

The Bordeaux varietals are in normal barrels which are on an Oxy-2 system, where the barrels are supported on wheels so that they can be turned by hand in order to suspend the lees. Its pretty blinking impressive. They also have an egg room, about a third of the Semillon is made in concrete egg and they have just purchased an amphora from Italy. 

The tasting room is both iconic and beautiful in its simplicity and we had the pleasure of tasting the following with Gottfried Mocke:

• Semillon 2022, Franschhoek old vine – super acidity, white peach and touch of zest, elements of waxy lanolin on the back palate. Pretty stunning glass of sem.
• Chocolate Block 2023 – 74% Syrah mainly from Porseleinberg and Goldmine vineyards in Swartland, 11% Grenache, 8% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Cinsault and 1% Viognier. Elegant, lifted black and blue fruits with notes of black olives and white pepper, soft tannins on the finish. I can see why this wine has such a following.

• Syrah 2022 – all fruit from Porseleinberg and Goldmine farms in Swartland. This is a very savoury style, dark fruits, liquorice almost meaty. On the palate quite opulent berry fruit, spice and a little white pepper, plenty of grip but still elegant, will age for at least 10 -15 years.
• Cabernet Franschhoek 2022 – blueberry fruit, pencil shavings and herbs on the nose, the palate is more plums and figs, garrigue and this wine has a long spicy finish. Very moreish.
• Cabernet Franschhoek 2006 – beautifully integrated, super balance and still plenty of life in this wine.

Swartland Revolution

For our last couple of days we headed back to the Badenhorst’s farm where the Swartland Revolution was to be held.

It was a blistering hot day for April, and once we had our passes and been assigned our glamping tents (!), we headed for a welcome drink and mingle with all the great and good of the SA wine world and many international visitors before our first tasting which was Sebastian Zuccardi from Uco Valley Argentina, hosted by Tim Atkin, MW.

The standout wine of his tasting was his Semillon. I couldn’t believe how good it was, who would of thought it would be a white wine from Argentina that stole the show. 

That evening we had a superb dinner with the Swartland 5 wineries sharing their wines over different vintages, from bottles and magnums. We then took to the dance floor for a boogie.

Bright and early next morning, we were revived by the onsite coffee truck, which got a good reception as did the babbelas burgers. 

The morning seminar was “Swartland Back to the Future”. Each of the five Swartlanders showed two wines, each with 10 years bottle age. 

Chris and Andre Mullineaux showed 2010 and 2020 Old Vines White. The 2010 was still beautiful and had evolved to show slightly waxy characteristics. 2020 had the addition of Grenache Blanc, Semillon and Verdelho to the original blend of Chenin Blanc, Viognier and clairette. Adding texture and also experimenting with new varietals as the Mullineaux continue to explore their terroir and winemaking.

Adi Badenhorst’s Family White were from 2013 and 2023 vintages. The 2013 is predominately chenin, whereas the 2023 is chenin based, but with 11 other varieties in the blend. The 2013 was surprisingly savoury, salty and textural, very pure with great length. 2023 had the same savoury characteristics but some peach and white fruit elements. He picks everything together and ferments everything together very much modelling his wines on old Rhône whites. 

Callie’s showed 2011 and 2021 Porseleinberg. The 2011 Syrah – big beast, loads of garrigue and herbs. Fermented and aged in concrete. The 2021 are more sauve and elegant dark fruit, well integrated tannins and more supple.

Eben Sadie’s showed Columella 2012 and 2022. The 2012 was mainly Syrah with a bit of Mouvedre, sublime very lifted fruit and savoury characters, herbal. Very balanced. The 2022 blend had the addition of grenache, Carignan and pinotage – much more minerality than the 2012, wine of terroir and very intense with grippy tannins.

A quick break for more food!

The final tasting was with Peter Fraser from the iconic Yangarra Winery in Mclaren Vale Australia. We tasted two Roux Beaute Roussanne’s, 2017 and 2022, three single vineyard Grenache wines from Yangarra all of which had amazing energy and were so light and pure with plenty of tannin and ageing potential. One shiraz, Ironheart 2021, brambly fruit a tiny bit of oak for texture but not to the detriment of the fruit. Peter is passionate about Great Grenache and their ability to age, and he certainly got that message across.

 

Followed by a long lunch we had the opportunity to mingle with big round tables and plenty of wine, including different treat bottles people wanted to share with other vinous minded people.

 

Later that evening, for those staying an additional night and for those who had the stamina,  we were treated to a slice or two of Charls famous pizzas and bopped with music from a superb reggae band. 

 A whirlwind trip around the Cape, and one that won’t be forgotten.

Our thanks to our generous hosts.

Averil & Nicola