Description
Agriculture in the Upper Blaauwklippen Valley can be traced back to 1694. In 2003, the Wraith family moved to the Western Cape from Gauteng and bought two adjacent farms. These two farms are now farmed as one Estate known as Keermont Vineyards. 2005 saw the start of a major vineyard planting programme on lands that had been fallow for a number of years. We planted 21Ha over seven years to add to an existing 8Ha of older vineyards. Our official maiden vintage was 2007 and in 2010 a spring water bottling plant on Fleurfontein was converted into a fully functional winery complete with offices, tasting room, processing facilities and barrel rooms. A tight unit of nine people run Keermont Vineyards. All work, from tending the vines to packaging the bottles for final release, is carried out by this small team to ensure that the same attention to detail is followed throughout the wines’ production. Mark Wraith lives on the farm with his wife, Monica and their four children. Mark plays an active role on the farm ranging from strategic long-term planning, right down to tending to the vines.
Adanti Sagrantino di Montefalco 2007 DOCG
Keermont Tasting Note
A polished light yellow gold colour, this wine has a bouquet of citrus blossom with hazelnut, lemon grass and butterscotch undertones. The wine has a soft sweet entry with a racy linear acidity. Ripe citrus and stone fruit flavours evolve into a lovely lingering dry earthy finish. This is a textured white wine with layers of flavour. Drink 2014-2024.
Swig Tasting Note
A touch more tightly woven than the ’13 at present, but pure class. Great purity of fruit, apple, pear and sweet citrus. There’s a hint of honeysuckle and ripe segments of tangerine The racy acidity lifts the palate beautifully – lightening the many textures and enhancing the freshness of the wine.
Timeless Wines Note
“Keermont’s 2014 White Blend Terrasse is 65% Chenin Blanc, 13% Chardonnay, 17% Sauvignon Blanc and 5% Viognier, fermented in French oak barrels and matured for 12 months on the lees, with a small part in stainless steel. Here we have a different set of aromatics to the 2010 and 2011. It is more tensile than I recollect previous vintages at this stage – orange blossom, touch of tangerine and honeysuckle. The palate is class, pure class. Winemaker Alex Starey has nailed the acidity here and imparted wonderful tension and poise. This is one of the purest “Terrasse” that I have encountered at this earlier stage and it will be a job to see how this develops in bottle. – Neal Martin” – Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate (November 2015), 93 pts
Awards
4½ stars PLATTER GUIDE 2016
93 pts NEAL MARTIN (Wine Advocate)
