2011 Catherine Marshall Wines, Sauvignon Blanc, Elgin Valley
Critics reviews
There is a tropical, full ripe fruitiness on the nose, but a tugging core of citrus and gooseberry too. In the mouth it is vibrant and zingy, with a flood of fruit that is crunchy and bold, but not at the expensive of texture and a certain dry, savoury, quite mineral quality and enough restraint to make it smoked salmon and - of course - goat's cheese friendly.
Tom Cannavan - Wine Pages - November 2013
About this WINE
Catherine Marshall Wines
Cathy Marshall is one of the original garagiste winemakers in South Africa; she graduated from Elsenburg College in 1991 and served a number of apprenticeships in premium South African wineries before gaining valuable experience abroad. She was inspired to set up a small wine-making enterprise after a post-harvest foot-crushing celebration resulted in the creation of three barrels of superb Syrah wine subsequently distributed amongst the revellers. A year later Cathy set up the Barefoot Wine Company and has since carved out a distinguished reputation as one of South Africa’s most skilled and innovative producers.
The winery lies in the Elgin Valley, surrounded by mountains and yet only 30 minutes from the sea. This creates a cool climate for growing grapes, conducive to maximum development of flavour and complexity. Cathy’s aim is to make wines of great purity, with absolutely minimal intervention, which reflect their origins. The Elgin Valley has rapidly acquired a reputation as a source of aromatically pure wines with excellent varietal expression, and we are delighted to have secured a modest allocation.
Sauvignon Blanc
An important white grape in Bordeaux and the Loire Valley that has now found fame in New Zealand and now Chile. It thrives on the gravelly soils of Bordeaux and is blended with Sémillon to produce fresh, dry, crisp Bordeaux Blancs, as well as more prestigious Cru Classé White Graves.
It is also blended with Sémillon, though in lower proportions, to produce the great sweet wines of Sauternes. It performs well in the Loire Valley and particularly on the well-drained chalky soils found in Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé, where it produces bone dry, highly aromatic, racy wines, with grassy and sometimes smoky, gunflint-like nuances.
In New Zealand, Cloudy Bay in the 1980s began producing stunning Sauvignon Blanc wines with extraordinarily intense nettly, gooseberry, and asparagus fruit, that set Marlborough firmly on the world wine map. Today many producers are rivalling Cloudy Bay in terms of quality and Sauvignon Blanc is now New Zealand`s trademark grape.
It is now grown very successfully in Chile producing wines that are almost halfway between the Loire and New Zealand in terms of fruit character. After several false starts, many South African producers are now producing very good quality, rounded fruit-driven Sauvignon Blancs.
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Description
Catherine Marshall's South African Sauvignon Blanc offers an exceptionally pure bouquet of grapefruit, elderflower and gooseberry that leads on to a clean, crisp palate of green fruit with hints of passion fruit and mango. The juice is fermented in tank and kept in contact with its gross lees for 6 months, during which time it undergoes regular stirring to enhance the richness and complexity.
One of the purest expressions of Sauvignon Blanc I have seen from South Africa, delicious with seafood or simply as an aperitif.
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