Keermont Vineyards is a specialist wine estate set in the naturally-formed amphitheatre between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch Mountain ranges. 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 vegetation. They lie between 250 and 400 metres above sea level at the top of the valley, and have a variety of aspects from North East to West facing.
In 2001, the Wraith family moved to the Western Cape from Gauteng and in 2003 bought two adjacent farms which today make up Keermont Vineyards.
A tight knit team of 16 people work at Keermont, from tending the vines to packaging the bottles for final release, all work is carried out by this team to ensure that the same attention to detail is followed throughout the wines’ production.
Mark Wraith lives on the farm with his wife, Monica and their four children. Mark plays an active role from strategic long-term planning, right down to tending to the vines and taking care of guests in the tasting room.
Alex Starey is in charge of the vineyards and of making the estate’s wines. Employed at the start of the redevelopment of the farm in 2005, he enjoys the responsibility of making sure that the vineyards deliver the highest quality fruit to create the best possible wines.
Linda Hartley looks after our bookkeeping and administration. Evelyn King takes care of logistics and Nicole Kilian is responsible for sales and marketing.
Dominic Jonsson is the farm supervisor and does a bit of everything from strategic planning and staff management right through to routine maintenance. He knows the farm better than anyone having moved to the farm when the Wraiths bought in 2003. He is also our resident snake catcher.
Over the past couple of years Mark, Alex, and Dom have devoted a great deal of time, not only to the development of the new vineyards, but also designing the labels and packaging of the Keermont Brand, designing and constructing the winery and developing the individual wines.
Shane De Vries is Alex’s right hand man. Shane grew up on a neighouring farm and has been at Keermont over 15 years. He is in charge of all winery work and puts the finishing touches on each order.
The rest of the team – Ernest, Simon, Mandi, Asanda, Farieda, Cecil, Lizzie and Matt – pay attention to detail from pruning the vines all the way through to hand labelling and polishing every bottle before it is put in the box.
We are very proud of the long term relationship we have with our team.
Mark and Monica Wraith
Alex doing punchdowns