Riverside Chenin Blanc

Enjoy with Salmon and seafood risotto.

2017 was a very good growing season on Keermont. Despite a drier than usual winter, we had strong growth in the vineyards during the spring time. This led to the formation of a good healthy crop which ripened evenly during the warm, dry summer. Harvest started fairly early, but was put on hold after a heavy rainfall. This perked the vines up and allowed for extended ripening which definitely raised the quality. We recorded one of our largest and healthiest crops yet.

This wine was fermented and then spent a further 12 months maturing on the lees in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barrels. Bottling was carried out by hand without filtration. Only 3792 bottles of this wine was produced.

All grapes used in producing this wine are sourced from the Riverside vineyard on Keermont. Small parcels of grapes are selected according to optimal ripeness and harvested by hand. The grapes are vinified gently and naturally following traditional techniques.

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.