Badenhorst Sout Van Die Aarde Palomino 2022
£42.03 (Inc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / Spain
Features
Type of wine
Style
Occasions
Winery
Size
Country
Region
Appellation
Alcohol
12.5%
Grapes
Serving
Between 8ºC and 10ºC
Winemaking
Alcoholic fermentation with indigenous yeasts and 11 months of ageing in used 500-litre oak barrels. Bottled without fining or filtering.
Description
On the west coast of South Africa, when the Atlantic blows fiercely and the fog rolls in like wet salt through every crack, there are vines that learn to survive in silence. Adi Badenhorst has always had a weakness for those places that are too wild to produce "beautiful" wines in the easy sense of the word. Badenhorst Sout Van Die Aarde Palomino ("salt of the earth") was born almost as a statement: to rescue Palomino -here also called Fransdruif-, a grape historically associated with sherry-like styles in South Africa, and to bottle it as a landscape wine, without make-up, letting the coast speak on the palate. The decision was brave in its simplicity and rarity: instead of pursuing lush aromas, to embrace the luminous austerity of a variety that expresses itself best in texture, salinity and edge.
The Brakkuil vineyard, some 150 km north of the winery, is no posture. The old vines emerge from poor surface sands, and sink deep roots into the chalky bedrock. On top of that, salty winds and sea mists soak the leaves like a constant shower. This cocktail does not fatten the fruit: it chisels it. The result is a white wine that doesn't boast perfume; it boasts place.
Winemaking
Vinification is deliberately direct at Badenhorst Sout Van Die Aarde Palomino. The grapes are whole-cluster pressed; the must falls clean and ferments in old vats, without the aromatic noise of new wood. The wine then rests 11 months in a 500 L barrel, aiming for slow micro-oxygenation and texture, not oak flavour. It is bottled with a small addition of sulphur, just enough to protect without taming.
Taste
In Badenhorst Sout Van Die Aarde Palomino, the nose starts off discreet and mineral, like cold stone fresh from the tide. With air, lemon and grapefruit peel, restrained white fruit and a hint of dried herbs. The palate is the manifesto: dry, straight, saline, with that sea breeze sensation that is more tactile than aromatic. The acidity pushes without pricking; the ageing adds a slight grip and a subtle fleshiness that makes it profoundly gastronomic. The finish is long and savoury: crushed shell, bitter citrus, an umami echo that brings you back to the glass. It doesn't win you over by volume, but by its salty persistence and austere elegance.
Shipping to Peninsular Spain
FREE shipping on orders over £175.87 or for 18 bottles or more in 6-bottle multiples (24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60 bottles)Estimated transit time: 2-3 working days.
| Bottles | Price | Over £175.87 |
|---|---|---|
| 1-6 | £6.07 | £0.00 (-£6.07) |
| 7-12 | £6.07 | £0.00 (-£6.07) |
| 13-17 | £11.34 | £0.00 (-£11.34) |
| 18 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
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| 24 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 25-29 | £17.41 | £0.00 (-£17.41) |
| 30 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 31-35 | £20.14 | £0.00 (-£20.14) |
| 36 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 37-41 | £23.66 | £0.00 (-£23.66) |
| 42 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 43-47 | £25.41 | £0.00 (-£25.41) |
| 48 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 49-53 | £29.81 | £0.00 (-£29.81) |
| 54 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| 55-59 | £31.57 | £0.00 (-£31.57) |
| 60 | Free | £0.00 (Free) |
| VAT included | ||
