Planted in 1971, Riverside Chenin blanc is the oldest vineyard on Keermont and one of the oldest blocks on Chenin blanc in Stellenbosch. Soils on the banks of the Blaauwklippen River, in which the vines are planted, vary from sandy alluvial plains with river stone to red clay loam as one moves away from the river. This patchy old vineyard, at an elevation of 250m, delivers very low yields of incredible quality fruit year in and year out. Like the old vines from which it is made, this wine has great complexity and character with quiet intensity. Proud member of the Old Vine Project (www.oldvineproject.co.za).
The yield from the Riverside Chenin blanc vineyard (2.14 HA) is so low that every bunch is used to make this wine. The vineyard is hand-picked in small sections according to where the grapes are perfectly ripe. The fruit is normally golden yellow in colour and peppered with delicious raisins.
The grapes are basket-pressed straight to the barrels where the juice will ferment. Fermentation is carried out by yeast which occurs naturally on the grape skins and in the winery. This wine was fermented and then spent a further 7 months maturing on the lees in two seasoned 500L French oak barrels. Bottling was carried out by hand and only 1067 bottles and 50 magnums of this wine were produced.
TASTING NOTE
Bright yellow-gold in colour, the bouquet of the Riverside Chenin blanc 2022 jumps out of the glass. It is rich with white flowers, ripe stone fruit, and a hint of herbs and roasted nuts. The palate continues where the nose left off: soft, ripe, and full bodied with clean stone fruit and marzipan, and light citrus rind and grassy notes. Gentle natural acidity and buttery texture linger on the finish. Suggested drinking window 2026-2034.
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!
ANALYSIS
Alc: 14.5 %
pH: 3.42
TA: 4.9 g/L
RS: 3.1 g/L
TSO2: 68 mg/L
VA: 0.61 g/L
ACCOLADES
RIVERSIDE CHEN 21: 94 pts NEAL MARTIN (VINOUS)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 21: 4 ½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 21: 94 pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 20: 4 ½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 20: 94 pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 20: 91 pts NEAL MARTIN (VINOUS)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 20: 91 pts WINE SPECTATOR
RIVERSIDE CHEN 19: 95 pts DECANTER
RIVERSIDE CHEN 19: 4 ½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 19: 95 pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 19: 92 pts NEAL MARTIN (VINOUS)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 19: 91 pts WINE SPECTATOR
RIVERSIDE CHEN 18: 95 pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 18: 91 pts NEAL MARTIN (VINOUS)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 18: 96 pts DECANTER
RIVERSIDE CHEN 18: 96 pts WINE MAGAZINE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 18: 4 ½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 17: 95pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 17: 4 ½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
RIVERSIDE CHEN 17: 91 pts NEAL MARTIN
RIVERSIDE CHEN 15: 93 pts NEAL MARTIN (Wine Advocate)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 15: 93 pts TIM ATKIN (MW)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 14: 5 stars PLATTER GUIDE 2016
RIVERSIDE CHEN 14: 92 pts NEAL MARTIN (Wine Advocate)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 13: 89 pts NEAL MARTIN (Wine Advocate)
RIVERSIDE CHEN 13: 4½ stars PLATTER GUIDE
