A.A. Badenhorst Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2025

Adi Badenhorst, who grew up at Groot Constantia and trained under Jean Daneel, bought a 148-acre farm on the Paardeberg with his cousin Hein in 2008, and A.A. Badenhorst Family Wines has since become one of the estates that defined the modern Swartland. Secateurs is the house's everyday range and this Chenin Blanc is its backbone: old bush vines planted in the 1960s and early 1970s in decomposed granite on the mountain's northern slopes, hand-harvested over twelve days, whole-bunch pressed, and fermented on native yeasts, with a quarter of the blend raised in old casks and large foudres and the whole resting ten months on gross lees. Flinty and textured, with honey, orange blossom, and white stone fruit over a bright, tangy finish. Old-vine Swartland Chenin at a price that makes it a weeknight decision.