Monday, May 12, 2025

Catherine Marshall trade wine cellar tasting

An enthusiastic welcome from Zonnika Louw, the Tasting Room manager

with a glass of Amatra Semillon 2022 from the Elgin valley
It has all the typical character it requires and, with age, will produce an even more memorable wine

Wines already open for lunch and casual tastings

The tasting room all set up for the trade and media  tasting

Cathy and Lynne catching up, it has been a long year
Lynne asked Cathy what the harvest had been like
and the reply was that although everyone says it's a superb, almost perfect year for wine,
she wants to wait and see the outcome

All the wines set out for the tasting
Lynne was a little concerned as she hadn't tasted any wine since her hip replacement operation on April 14th!
Too many pills got in the way...  It was fine, just a small sip of the best,
just enough to describe the wine and there was lots of best...

The iconic Catherine Marshall art labels

... and more

Rui Blanco of Constantia Wine and Craft emporium, Zonnika, Bryan-John Judd (Judd's local) and Cathy

A view of the Polkadraai wine area from the cellar door - with a line of birds, the small black dots in the sky

More people arriving with the tables set up for the tasting

Time to begin the tasting, we had a full house

Cathy spoke at length about each wine, the area it was grown in
and why she buys grapes from those areas and vineyards

We began with Amatra Jono's Wave Chenin Blanc 2024 - 70% Voor Paardeberg 30% Elgin
Complex, with layers of golden fruit on the nose
Wood first, then quality; good acidity, more layers of peach and nectarine fruit, length
A wine for food, which is why it is on many top restaurants' lists

The 2023 Chenin Blanc Fermented in Clay from the Art Collection is fermented in amphorae made here in the Cape
It is aromatic with notes of cooked apple and peach
Crisp and full of flavour, it expands on the palate with ripe peach and nectarine fruit
Grapes are from Voor Paardeberg and Bottelary grapes

The Ode to Arges Semillon 2023 has stone fruit that echos the soil minerality and a hint of oak. Long legs in the glass
Boom! a wake up on the palate with lots of personality and flavours of green grapes and nectarine

The 2024 is a little shy on the nose but has Chanel Christalle echos, (Lynne favourite summer perfume),
a hint of the soil and some smoke
Wood first on the palate; baked apple and pear with long flavours, this has a future
Both Semillons come from 100% Elgin grapes

The Catherine Marshall 2024 Sauvignon Blanc delighted us with its "cat's pee on a gooseberry bush" pyrazines
We love them and do prefer this style to the more tropical Sauvignons Blanc
It has lots of elegance. Slightly petillant on the young palate,
crisp and dry with layers of fruit and some golden notes with lovely rolling lees on the end

The 2024 Catherine Marshall Riesling has complexity and is correct to the varietal
A crisp, lean, juicy food wine with layers of lime, lemon, peach and nectarine
To avoid Terpenes, Cathy insists that the leaf canopy must cover the grapes. They develop in sunburnt grapes
These are  removed from the bunches before pressing

Straight lines and winter vines - newly planted Polkadraai vineyards

On to the red wines

Negotiant Sue Anderson represents Cathy in the trade

Pouring the Pinots first

First was the 2024 Catherine Marshall On Sandstone Soils
with its beautiful dive-in nose of ripe cherry and raspberry, vanilla oak and, yes, a hint of truffle
Soft on the palate, with some supporting acidity it shows its youth as the fruit reappears. It has huge potential

The 2024 Catherine Marshall On Clay Soils Pinot Noir was initally shy
and then appeared more solid aromas, a hint of smoke, vanilla and truffle
Soft fruit, integrated, it's a very delicate Pinot in character with dark oak notes with minerality
We scored this highly; it has lots of potential

Then the Finite Elements 2024 Pinot Noir. Elegance and minerality, red cherry, berry fruit all melding together on the nose
It's a Wow on the palate, with superb fruit, tannins and wood in balance, depth and promise with long flavours, so special
Our favourite of the tasting, and many others agreed


Then on to taste some of the older Pinot Noirs
The 2021 Sandstone Pinot had pale edges
It's ethereal on the nose, definitely Pinot with integrated aromas, very special with hints of careful wooding
Dark cherry fruit, a hint of amaretto and some grip from tannins and wood on the end
It's in balance and called for food. It is aging well and has a future

The 2021 Clay Pinot Noir has perfume, vanilla and red berry fruit, almost a cordial nose, attractive and integrated
On the palate, sweetness and some crispness to balance the red berry fruit
Long flavours, but not forward, and some chalky tannins

The 2021 Finite Elements Pinot Noir is showing good berry fruit, minerality and hints of wood
Very similar on the palate to the Clay Pinot, a food wine and staying very lively

The 2023 Catherine Marshall Grenache is just about to be released. Savouriness and lovely fruit entice you in
On the palate, layers of lively red grapes and berry fruit, tannins, minerality and smoke all blend. It's an intriguing grape
With the savoury character, there are some candy floss hints and Turkish delight from the carbonic maceration
"Give me food", it shouts

The 2021 Catherine Marshall Grenache also has that required savoury character
with some elegance and good fruit on the nose
Zingy on the tongue, layered, with tight tannins, good berry fruit with some chalkiness on the end
It's a good wine and has much more time to go

Also for tasting was the 2021 Catherine Marshall Peter's Vision Bordeaux Blend
 Sadly, Lynne did not taste it, but John enjoyed a glass with his lunch

It is a merlot-led wine with initial dark red fruit,
backed by a little smoky spice, dark wood elements and then lovely sweetness to balance the mouthful

Lunch was a buffet with good sour dough bread, dips, Cous cous and salads

Cooked chicken portions and warm aubergine in a good thick tomato sauce. 

A selection of breads


and some really wonderful figgy tarts with nuts and crisp pastry
which some of us took to be savoury but actually was dessert

Selfie time. Rui Blanco, Cathy and Zonnika

The valuable amphorae

In the barrel cellar

Cathy has some lovely old foudres, which belong to Miles Mossop, in her cellar

All our stories can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right of this page

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Thursday, April 10, 2025

The Exclusive Release of the Meerendal 2023 Heritage Block Pinotage

We received an invitation from Meerendal to a celebration of Pinotage. Why?
Well, Pinotage turns 100 this year and there will be celebrations by the Pinotage Association
which the Meerendal team will be proud to host at Meerendal on the 9th, 10th and 12th of October  

Dr Abraham Perold made the first Pinotage vine by crossing Pinot Noir and Cinsault (aka Hermitage) vines in 1924

And the wonderfully historic Heritage block planted on Meerendal in 1955 is 70 years old this year,
planted with cuttings from Perold's original, made at Elsenburg in the early 1950s,
one of the four oldest Pinotage plantings in the Cape

We were also invited to taste the 2023 Single Vineyard Heritage Block Pinotage wine that was unveiled,
and it was very, very good
Cellarmaster Wade Roger Lund: “I believe that this historical block has a special place in the history of Pinotage
and the fact that these old blocks tend to promote the more elegant style of Pinotage is a bonus for me
It matches perfectly with my philosophy for the block and Meerendal in general,
softer and more refined texture and structure but still having a subtle hint of that rustic Pinotage vibe
that leads to a wine that I believe can move Pinotage forward on the global stage”

Past the restaurant ...

... to the Tasting room

Fine views of the Stellenbosch mountains over the vines


Always a warm welcome from Bennie Howard

The Tasting room 

Winemaker Wade Roger-Lund chatting to Michael Fridjhon about the wines they are tasting

A  window into the tank barrel cellar


Viticulturist Rosa Kruger with Winnie Bowman and Aletta Coertze

Wade greets people as they arrive

The view from the tasting room terrace of the site selected for the October Pinotage celebration

Beyers Truter, Cathy van Zyl and Elvina Snell Fortuin chat to Lynne

Beyers and Bennie greet

Wade Roger-Lund with Herman and Aletta Coertze, owners of Meerendal, and Michael Fridjhon

Winnie Bowman CWM, Cathy van Zyl MW and Bennie Howard CWM

Wine writers Joanne Gibson,  Elvira Snell Fortuin, & Fiona MacDonald with Beyers Truter 

Lynne and John with Bennie
We asked about this year's harvest and were told, "It's produced brilliant quality, so good, the wines are young but showing such potential"
Their viticulturist, Zach Moolman, said, "excellent. The previous harvest was not great; this one had perfect conditions and produced excellent quality,
especially the white grapes. No additions were necessary in the cellar"

Journalist Suzaan Potgieter, Wade Roger-Lund, Lucille Botha and Maryna Calow

Bennie Howard, Natasha de Villiers of Durbanville Wine Route, Wade Roger-Lund and Conrad Schutte, CEO of VINPRO

Bennie getting down to business, telling about the importance of their heritage block of Pinotage and its future

A tiny taste of the original 1954 Pinotage
The guests were treated to an exclusive guided tasting of this landmark release,
as well as the 2024 vintage which is still in the barrel
Dark red in colour, it still shows good wood and dark berry fruit on the nose
On the palate, smooth, with lots of mulberry and black cherry fruit
We were amazed and impressed that it still has so much concentration which lasted on the palate

We moved to the new Heritage barrel cellar 

Siobhan Thompson of WOSA being given a taste of the 1954

and as it breathed, it opened out more

Wade told us how important the Heritage block is for Meerendal
Herman gave him carte blanche to do what was needed
The farm is now in transition to going organic
Organic pioneer Johan Reyneke has helped them and they are beginning to see the soils thrive
They are building a solar farm and are taking the farm off the grid as much as possible

The heritage vineyard is massive, and all the grapes go straight to barrel
Wade has now segmented the vineyard into blocks that produce different quality and characteristics
which he has had time to study over several previous vintages
He then vinifies the chosen blocks seperately with non commercial organic yeast, 
in different barrels with different levels of toast, to get to the final Heritage blend

Journalists Joanne Gibson and Lucille Botha, writing, not recording

Wade is passionate about this project and was quite emotional about the release of the 2023
and to show us how well this has worked
"Pinotage King" Beyers Truter said it was a long time since he'd seen anyone this emotional about Pinotage
He loved it

Michael Fridjhon, Beyers Truter and Christian Eedes


Photographs of 1969 and 1970 Meerendal Pinotage on the wall by the barrel cellar

Something new and popular, a Pinotage Rosé

The reveal of the new vintage and its label
The new label is a close replica of the 1969 Meerendal Pinotage label, in the same font and colours
It was unveiled ceremoniously by Herman and Aletta Coertze, owners of Meerendal,
and Wade Roger-Lund at the start of the tasting, with the 2023 vintage bottle next to a recently recorked 1969 bottle


The 1969, Meerendal's first commercially released Pinotage

70 year old Meerendal Heritage block Pinotage vines just before harvest
(Photograph supplied by Meerendal)

and the newly released Meerendal 2023 Pinotage; they copied the original label design
On the nose, perfume of violets and roses, musk and sandalwood
Full on the palate, it opens in layer after layer of beautiful fruit;
smooth and silky, cherry, wood, mulberry, minerality,
dark licorice wood with a hint of naartjie on the end
No metalic flavours at all. A great success


Beyers Truter with Herman and Aletta Coertze, tasting the new Meerendal 2023 Pinotage


The Salt chefs, Craig Cormack and Beau du Toit
The wine industry knows that when we spot these two fine chefs catering at an event, the food will be superb And it was. Innovative, flavourful and delicious

Springbok tartare on potato rosti

Smoked salmon whirls on a soft beetroot purée base

Rare roast beef crostini topped with parmesan and aubergine 

Tender smoked duck slices with an Asian jus and tiny carrot balls
 - we admit to downing more than one each. There was plenty to satisfy all the guests




The 2023 The Loft Cape Blend, made with 50% Pinotage, the balance of Merlot and Shiraz
Elegant plum and cherry flavours with structure from French oak, 40% of it new barrels

All our stories can be opened from the archive list near the top of the column on the right

If you do not wish to receive e-mails from us, please email menucape@gmail.com with the word 'UNSUBSCRIBE' in your email

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