Mourvèdre 100%
The Keermont Companion Mourvèdre 2022 is a single barrel bottling of Mourvèdre that was left over after we completed our blending of the 2022 vintage. We have a 0.7Ha parcel of Mourvedre that grows in a prime position on Steepside. The quality of the wine is great, but we only need a small amount to blend into the Keermont Syrah.
VINIFICATION
All grapes used in producing our wines are grown on Keermont Vineyards. Most of the vineyard parcels grow on deep red clay rich soil derived from sandstone and granite and are surrounded by indigenous ‘fynbos’ vegetation. Our vineyards are planted on steep mid-slopes high up in the valley between the Stellenbosch and Helderberg mountain ranges. Aspects vary from North East through North to West facing between 250 and 400 meters above sea level.
Small batches of grapes are specifically selected according to ripeness, harvested by hand and vinified separately. This process is carried out gently and naturally in open top fermenters using traditional methods only. This wine spent 20 months maturing in a seasoned French oak barrique before being bottled by hand without filtration on 29/11/2023. 395 bottles were produced.
TASTING NOTE
Lighter hue ruby red in colour, this wine has a savoury bouquet with hints of herbs and spice and dusty fruit. The pallet is fine and focussed with serious structure with spicey red fruit.. Drink 2024-2036.
ANALYSIS
Alc: 14.00%
pH: 3.66
TA: 4.5g/L
RS: 1.7g/L
TSO2: 74mg/L
VA: 0.61g/L
VINTAGE REPORT
2022 will go down as a very successful and plentiful vintage at Keermont. On paper it was a vintage of two halves. The first half of the season was very cool and wet. We recorded the wettest winter since starting to farm Keermont Vineyards in 2005! These conditions led to good growth in the early season, but also increased disease pressure. We had to work hard to keep up with the strong growth in order to keep all the vines trimmed and tucked in to ripen the crop ideally. By Christmas time we could see that we had a lovely looking crop of grapes ripening on the healthy green vines.
After Christmas the weather changed completely and we had a hot and dry run into harvest. The grapes, which we thought were going to be harvested late, ripened quickly under the healthy conditions. Harvest started on 1 February which is fairly normal for us. It quickly picked up tempo and before long we were going flat out picking grapes and processing in the cellar. The vineyards consistently delivered good yields and the winery tanks filled up quickly. We pressed our biggest vintage ever in the Keermont Winery: just over 90 tonnes of healthy, estate grown fruit!
