Top 10 South African winemakers to watch
1st November, 2012
by
Lucy Shaw
10: Alex Starey, Keermont
Surfing winemaker Alex Starey is in charge of viticulture and winemaking at Keermont, a boutique winery set in an amphitheatre between the Helderberg and Stellenbosch mountain ranges. The fledgling 27-hectare estate, on the site of a former mineral water bottling plant, was acquired by Mark Wraith in 2003.
Having studied oenology at the University of Stellenbosch, Starey set his sites on Europe, working harvests in Priorat, Bordeaux and the Rhône. Returning home to South Africa inspired by the elegant Syrahs of the Rhône Valley, Starey was determined to make wine with a distinctly South African stamp. “We’re in a very special part of the woods here, so we’re committed to the estate concept,” he says.
Formed of 8ha of established vines, including Chenin Blanc planted in 1971, the majority of plantings at the estate took place between 2005 and 2009. Producing just five barrels in his inaugural 2007 vintage, Starey currently makes four wines: a flagship red blend made up of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Petit Verdot; a Syrah; Terrasse – a barrel fermented white blend featuring Chenin Blanc, Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc; and, in exceptional vintages, dessert wine Fleurfontein. His minimum intervention philosophy eschews both fining and filtration.