Tasting Keermont Single Vineyard Series wines

Something from the past happened this week, another reminder of normality; we were invited to a tasting of Keermont wines at their Cape Town venue in upper Kloof Street. The farm is nestled high up in a naturally-formed amphitheatre between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch mountain ranges, with spectacular views. Definitely worth a visit. During lock down they have concentrated on their export business and are now back in the South African trade, working hard and succeeding

Just six people from the trade attended, well spaced around the large table with winemaker/viticulturist Alex Starey

and Nicole Kilian who handles their marketing. We so appreciate the care that was taken

The Single Vineyard wines were what we were there to taste, but other bottles were open and we could also taste those

The line up of the first three wines. The 2018 Riverside Chenin Blanc, barrel fermented, is from very old vines planted in 1971 which give superb fruit but sadly the vines are diminishing with age. Richness on the nose with full golden fruit - ripe English gooseberry, melon & peach. There is some initial sweetness on the palate which has a honey texture but is crisp and elegant with lime, lemon and supporting wood. Long complex flavours and minerality on the end. They do not use new wood on the farm

The wines are very good indeed. The second wine was the North facing 2016 Steepside Syrah, which impressed us most. We have bought this before and now need to bring out some to taste. It is grown at 300m on the Helderberg. Black and red cherries, minerality, dark toast on the nose, then some raspberry and a hint of white pepper on the end. Soft and silky and beautiful on the palate, full of beautiful cherry and blueberry fruit, warmth from the 14.5 alcohol and dark oak on the end. A wine to buy and cherish but also enjoy now. The west facing 2016 Topside Syrah grown at 350m on the Stellenbosch mountains, shows how different terroire, so close to each other, can affect the wine. The two vineyards are on different facing slopes. Perfumed with hints of rhubarb and raspberry. On the palate soft, full of cherry fruit and a little grip from the wood tannins and some chalk minerality remains. Zingy acidity shows that this wine is built to last, it certainly gets the juices flowing and is a good wine with food

Cellar door prices

The full range of wines. The 2016 Pondockrug Cabernet Franc grown at 380 m has pine nuts and dark cherry and mulberry fruit, good refinement and perfumed by raspberry on the nose. Salty minerality, silky, a blockbuster on the palate with warmth, chalky tannins and lots of cherry and mulberry on the end

A view of the three topmost vineyards which reach 390 metres above sea level

Some of the grapes are grown on Stok by Paaltjie, which in France is called the Echalas method, also termed ‘staked vines’

These are the very old Chenin vines in the Riverside vineyard

Nicole Kilian pouring. We also tasted the Keermont Syrah which is savoury and spicy with almost salami umami notes, at first soft and fruity then the fruit and wood takes over. The Keermont Estate Reserve 2014 has pretty, perfumed dark fruit and follows through on the palate with dark wood and cherry fruit with dry tannins. And we finished with the very attractive Fleurfontein 2019 100% vine dried Sauvignon Blanc, honey sweet with spice and length on nose and palate. A good after dinner pleaser

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Early Summer escape to De Kelders

An invitation from friends to spend a long weekend at De Kelders could not be refused

We hadn't been away from our house since February and a change of scene is so beneficial

We recommend it if you are feeling housebound. The weather when we arrived on Friday was perfect 

 Happy to see us and enjoying life!

So we sat on the terrace and drank Gin and Tonics and chatted for hours

And then we had a light lunch of quiche and salad and began to relax

An indigenous wild pink pelargonium, also known as Malva, which was growing next to the deck

It seems to be the pink season for flowers now

Another flower John spotted while taking an exploratory photo walk. Lavateria orbea; Pink Cape Mallow

The house from the coastal path. We have stayed here before and know how comfortable it is, with marvellous sea views

We were given the bedroom upstairs with the balcony

The house belongs to our friend's daughter Debbie and was available that weekend

Statis or sea lavender (Limonium sinuatum) is a common everlasting that grows happily near the sea

Soft evening light looking across Walker Bay from De Kelders to the Kogelberg Mountains

As the sun sets over Walker Bay, it paints a yellow brick road in the water

and the sea turns to Opal

Fledgling swallows fresh from the nest early the next morning

John was up early and took this photo of the restio reeds in the soft dawn light

We then went into Gansbaai to the Saturday fresh produce market and were so impressed

They had good Covid procedures in practice too,

although some customers were not very good at social distancing and had to be reminded

Everything is local and Lynne bought some fresh farm eggs laid by hens that walk about in the open air

Two of those lightly boiled for Lynne's breakfast tomorrow, with soldiers; she loves really fresh eggs

And she could not resist buying a pot of mini purple petunias to give some colour to our deck at home

They had fantastic home grown vegetables, fruit, honey, eggs, even meat, thick creamy yoghurt and cheese and all local

In other words, a proper country market. And no eating there either. Someone thinks her chin needs protecting 

 

Those fresh farm eggs, packed in different sizes. From the farm of the woman who runs the market

And no, that is a not a giant slice of biltong, just a wooden board.

Sparrows nesting in the gutter of a building next to the market

Then we took our friends to Springfontein Wine estate in Stanford for a mini wine tasting

You do the tasting in the Ulumbaza (which means “House of Joy”) wine bar.  

The winemaker and farm manager, Tariro Masayiti, makes very good wines indeed,

including a complex blend of white Pinotage with Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Chardonnay

and a very, very good Chenin Blanc

The range of Springfontein wines we could taste from. We decided on two: the White Springfontein Ulumbaza 2017 which is an unusual blend of  white Pinotage, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon with intense fruit flavours; the Semillon shows first, then the Pinotage. There is Chardonnay richness on the nose and the same richness is there on the end. We also tasted the Terroire Selection Chenin Blanc; an almost musty nose, with richness and wood notes. Cooked apple and peach on the nose and palate, beautiful and silky on the complex palate followed by lively fruit acids, lime and pepperiness. Excellent

We were very well looked after by Zintle Makheta, who runs the tasting room and told us all about the wines

She is very welcoming and very knowledgeable. They do have a simple menu there, should you want to eat

The main restaurant will open when the German owners are able to return from Europe

The Peacock and the Lavender

A peacock sitting outside a farm cottage with lavender bushes

He loved posing for photographs and seemed very tame, coming right up to John

But we could not get him to raise his tail to show it off in all its magnificence

Peacock Blue - The beautiful blue head of the peacock (Pavo cristatus)

The eyes behind his head - The "eyes" in a peacock's tail feathers

Longtail - the blue Indian peacock and his tail, in profile

And a quick rummage in the Junk Shop in Stanford

and the new one next door which is very fashionable, even though it's called Tat! 

Stanford is a very pretty village

With some great old houses

Back for another lunch on the deck

Watching for whales which never appeared and watching the fisherman on the rocks

Reading or napping after lunch

Hermanus on the other side of Walker Bay, through the haze

And, sadly, clouds appearing at sunset. We did have rain in the night

We braaied some sausage - excellent pork boerewors from Spar in Gansbaai

Lolly made a sauté of vegetables and Lynne made a classic Caesar salad

Suddenly  a huge flock of cormorants appeared from the south, as if they were moving away from a coming storm

And they covered the rocks in front like a huge black sheet, we have rarely seen so many roosting at once

They packed tightly together, so tightly that some had to raft out at sea

Backward look - A cormorant watches for anything coming from behind

These are the Cape Cormorants, Phalacrocorax capensis

which look very similar to the Northern American Double Crested but are, apparently, not related

Amazing to see how those webbed feet made for water balance so well on rocks

Cormorant Invasion - Part of the huge flock of cormorants which arrived at De Kelders

Not a very elegant landing, but efficient

So graceful in flight

Our final lunch was whatever we needed to eat up in the fridge

and resulted in some interesting open and closed sandwiches

And then it was time to pack up, tidy up and head home to the cats

The remains of some of the of excellent wines we enjoyed over the three days, and some beer

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