2012 Keermont Companion, Merlot, Stellenbosch

2012 Keermont Companion, Merlot, Stellenbosch

Product: 36608
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2012 Keermont Companion, Merlot, Stellenbosch

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Description

Keermont is one of the Cape's rising stars and 2012 Companion is a wonderful example of the complex and delicious wines now being produced by winemaker Alex Starey. Only 444 cases of this have been produced from Keermont’s vineyards that lie between the Stellenbosch and Helderberg mountain ranges.

The wine is made from a blend of Merlot 89%, Petit Verdot 6%, Cabernet Franc 3% and Mourvedre 2% and is mature in French oak barrels for 22 months. Bursting with red and and black fruits with notes of green peppers and capsicums, this is delicous now but will continue to improve over the next 5 years.

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About this WINE

Keermont Vineyards

Keermont Vineyards

Keermont intends to create wines that reflect the beautiful place from which they come and the particular year’s vintage conditions. The wines are made as naturally as possible with very little vineyard irrigation and minimal intervention in the winery.

The estate has been owned by the Wraith family since 2003. Two thousand and five saw the start of a significant vineyard-planting programme on lands that had been fallow for several years. Seventeen hectares were planted over four years to add to an existing eight hectares of older vineyards. Keermont’s official maiden vintage came in 2007.

The farm is high up in the picturesque Blaauwklippen Valley, or Paradyskloof (Paradise Valley) in South Africa. Due to the steepness of the terrain, the altitude climbs 200m within the 1.7km length of the farm, and the vineyards are planted between 250m and 400m above sea level. Thus, the vines planted over these different terrains produce wines with good complexity and various flavors. In addition, the proximity to False Bay and the Indian Ocean also moderates the climate in the vineyard.

Winemaker Alex Starey oversees the vineyards and makes the estate’s wines. Employed at the start of the redevelopment of the farm in 2005, he has traveled and worked in wine regions, including Maipo Valley in Chile, Penedès and Priorat in Spain, and St-Emilion and Côte-Rôtie in France.

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Merlot

Merlot

The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.

In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.

Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.

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