Those Damn Baboons!- Keermont Wine Estate

Hey Everyone,

Today I am writing after one of my more thorough visits to a winery. Just down the 'road' from Kleinood (more of a rough dirt track) is the Keermont wine estate, situated far up the valley with one foot on the Helderberg and one foot on the Stellenbosch Berg with vineyards creeping well up the slopes.

Originally this was a bottling plant for natural spring water, though since becoming a winery the spring still serves as a source of irrigation water in dire circumstances and fills the jugs on tasting tables. At the top of the vineyards the reservoir is said to be about the best swimming pool on a hot day, with clean cool fresh water, and no doubt a great source of drinking water for the wildlife of the mountain.

Wine maker Alex Starey took me for a drive up the steep winding track that weaves through the vineyards on the Stellenbosch Berg and there we got a look at the kind of biodiversity the area can claim. A male baboon, likely with his family in tow scampered into the bushes, dropping a bunch of grapes as he fled. This is one of the not so subtle reminders that I am in a very different kind of wine region, where the animal hazards are unique, and not limited to bugs and birds.

All the same, the team here at Keermont maintain that this biodiversity is part of an important balance they must strike with the land they work. They limit irrigation, avoid fertilisers and don't put up the electric fences that some vineyards use to keep out the well organised baboon raiders. I think that this is an excellent approach to winemaking and most importantly of all, it turns out that the wine is very very good as well.

I tasted a good range of wines, and had the chance to try several vintages each of their Syrah and the white blend. This wasn't so much to show me the effects of time on the wine, though that w evident, but more to show me how Keermont is adjusting its style and fine-tuning it's still-new output. After all, the Keermont label is only five years old and they are still very much in the experimental stages. The white blend from 2009 was big and fully rich with honeyed Chenin characters that I can only compare to an off dry Vouvay, though I hesitate to compare between regions. The current 2011 is more restrained, a crisp, minerally blend of Chenin, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc with just a hint of oak, but avoiding the vanilla driven style that can be so tempting for a new operation.

The Syrah was excellent stuff with vintage variation on full display in the two bottlings I tried. The 2009 was chunky and tannic, with big fruit and big acidity meant for a bit of time resting in bottle, while the 2010 was more approachable in youth. Present but silky tannins meant for a very satisfying mouthfeel alongside the lovely nose of black cherries, violets and spices. Both were very beautiful examples of Syrah which show the potential of this marvellous variety. I have said more than once that I believe Syrah is the most inherently beautiful grape I've ever tried.

The tasting finished with a proprietary red blend based on Merlot with Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Syrah simply called the Keermont. It was a lovely Bordeaux style blend with great richness and spice and plenty of acid and fruit for a hearty meal. To finish off that meal there is the natural sweet Sauvignon Blanc, made from vine dried grapes. It was bright, clean and light with a nice peachy, cotton candy like sweetness that was ever so pleasant to drink.

Wile the wines I tried were excellent, and entirely merit the increased attention they are receiving, what made me most excited about Keermont is the the planning for the future. They are toying with single vineyard bottlings of Cabernet Franc which thrives so well on their slopes, they are planting new varieties, such as Roussanne and working with some Petit Verdot. All in all they have an adventurous spirit that is so valuable in a country like South Africa, and I believe that they have the potential to be (/are already) one of the great names in South African wines.

Much Love,

George

 

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Kleinood Wine Farm- Home of Tamboerskloof Wines

Tamboerskloof Syrah by Kleinood

Hey Everyone,

Today, among several producers visited, I stopped by Kleinood Wine Farm, not far along the Blaauwklippen Road from Dornier. I was lucky enough to meet with the owner of the operation, Gerard de Villiers, who not only runs Kleinood, but also designs wineries around the world. He has worked with such recognisable names as Nyetimber as well as plenty of other South African wineries and has a remarkably intellectual approach to everything he does.

Before I tasted any of his wines, I was shown around the winery. Not a huge winery by any means, but it maximises it's efficiency by using several devices of Gerard's own design. A remarkable system of pulleys and cranes attached to a runner around the ceiling means that the machinery, including the basket press itself can be lifted and moved around the winery floor with ease. Alongside this, the larger fermentation tanks, far too big to be punched down by hand have computer-operated punch-down mechanisms along for maximum extraction in the wines.

In addition to the space-age technologies in use on the winery floor, the selection of the grape varieties was the result of careful monitoring of the weather patterns and comparing them with those of other regions around the world. I saw incredibly detailed analyses of soil conditions, rainfall and annual climate mapping which indicated the definitive correllation between Kleinood and the Norther Rhône, in particular Côte-Rôtie. Therefore, they went to the Côte-Rôtie and got a hold of their Syrah clones to make sure everything went according to plan. The resulting red is a powerful, peppery and briney Syrah that I find infinitely attractive!

For the white they use Viognier and vinify in a method similar to Condrieu, though the end result is laced with bracing acidity and crisp minerality with hints, though no more of elegant oak-aging coming through. Gerard said that formerly the winery produced a much more buttery style of Viognier but have moved this year to a more restrained, poised interpretation. Future years will see the incorporation of a small amount of Roussanne to the end result. Though I could find no fault with the wine as it is now, I am confident that Gerard's decision is based on very sound scientific reasoning.

The use of oak is restrained. Though all the wine, aside from the very pleasant rosé is matured in barrel, most of it is older, large French oak barrels meant to soften and unite the flavours of the wine but not to confect them with buttery toastiness.

Wine is an art to a winemaker and Gerard feels no differently. For him however their is an artistic science that he puts into his work. He is not trying to cultivate an image of some idyllic rural farmhouse operation, because he doesn't have to. He is conducting a balancing act between his innovative techniques and his traditions in such effortless fashion that I marvel at the absence of pretense. Tamboerskloof wines, made by Kleinood are really very impressive!

Much Love,

George

 

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Sijnn Wines

Hello Everybody,

Today I'm writing to you to talk about the sort of wines I am looking for. I'm not looking for wines that are mass produced nor am I looking for producers selling their wines for hundreds of pounds per bottle. Neither Yellow Tail nor Harlan Estate, nor do I want wines from those who are already well established in the world. I want to find wines that are affordable for anyone who wants to try a good bottle and is willing to spend perhaps a bit more to get a really cracking wine. I want wines that are entertainment in themselves. After all I would always rather spend £15 on a bottle of wine between two people than the same on two movie tickets.

So today I am beginning to taste wines along these lines which I can find in the UK and share my notes with you so that we can see what is here already before looking at what is left undiscovered in the rest of the world. The wine is a very small production from Malgas near Swellendam in South Africa. Situated along the banks of the Breede River, Sijnn (pron. 'sane') produces two wines that I regularly consider among my favourites. The white, a 53-47% blend of Chenin Blanc and Viognier is a beautifully rich, lively and aromatic white wine that appeals to my love of the slightly oakier wines of the Rhône Valley, but with the added acidic edge of Chenin Blanc. It is versatile and food friendly and just very, very solid for those who want an all-rounder white wine.

The red, a unique blend of Rhône varietals Shiraz and Mourvèdre beefed up by Douro varieties Touriga Nacional and Trincadeira, is a massively aromatic wine with a beautifully balanced palate. Eschewing aromas of black cherries, red currants and strawberries all enveloped in a feral leather pouch with hints of dry cocoa power and licorice it is exactly the kind of full bodied red I look for. The palate carries on with the fruits as they give way to the cocoa and finishes with a long note of roasted coffee beans. The acid and the tannins are well matched to one another and though both are found here in abundance neither overwhelms the fruit and complexities of flavour.

Both of these wines are gorgeously complex and offer both novelty and overall satisfaction. They have a classic feel but they are not too ponderous on established wine styles, which I find greatly appealing. I love Rhône style wines and in essence thats what I find here, but I also see much more than that. I see an expansion upon the classics which keeps things interesting. You can look forever for a nice Shiraz but at the end of the day even the best shiraz will be what you expect it to be. I expected a Rhône style red from Sijnn when I first tried it, but that inherint difference gives these wines both an edge that makes me want to revisit them again and again. As both of these wines retail around £20 per bottle, they are not absurdly expensive for those looking to try something really interesting.

This is the sort of wine I am looking for when I travel to South Africa and I know that there will be others that appeal to traditional inclinations but surprise with a twist that just makes you smile. I want wine that is entertaining. I'll be trying things regularly in the next few weeks leading up to my trip to see what is already present and what can be added to the range of boutique wines available in Britain.

Much Love,

George

 

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