Secateurs Chenin Blanc 2017

18 October 2026 · Vikipedia

The scissors on the label have an advantage over many wine descriptions: their purpose is obvious. This white offers an equally concrete starting point: a grape, a place and what I found in the glass.

Winery: A. A. Badenhorst Family Wines
Grapes: Chenin Blanc
Origin: Swartland · South Africa
Vintage: 2017

What I found in the glass

Green apple, apricot and a touch of honey, with freshness and good concentration on the palate.

Tasting note published on Instagram on 14/10/2026 · @sommelier.vi.cat

Swartland: a landscape behind the name

We are in southwestern South Africa, north of Cape Town. Malmesbury is a useful reference point; Paardeberg is one of the hills that help organise the map. Swartland is neither one farm nor one village: naming the region starts the address, rather than bringing us to the door.

Picture cereal fields and vineyards spread across plains and slopes. Summers can be very hot. Bush vines are characteristic: low, branching plants rather than a wall of foliage trained along wires. Their canopy can shade the grapes. Even grapes appreciate a parasol when the heat arrives.

Where does this Secateurs fit?

A. A. Badenhorst’s current description places its Chenin Blanc on the northern side of Paardeberg, using old, rain-fed vines on granite soils. Rain-fed means relying on rainfall rather than irrigation. That is more specific than “South Africa”, although the page is not a technical sheet for 2017; it cannot establish the exact plots used for this vintage.

The landscape helps us ask how the grapes are grown and ripen. It does not turn granite into an aroma we are obliged to find. The freshness and concentration I described are impressions of this bottle. The map tells us where we are starting, but cannot do the tasting for us.

The post and the facts

Regional references

Regional context reviewed on 18 October 2026. Original tasting notes retained.