ON OUR MENU
with Michael Olivier

Well known Michael Olivier, food and wine writer, chats to Catherine Marshall, progenitor of the South African Garagiste Movement - quite a mouthful!  Cathy made her first three barrels of Shiraz at a beach party in Muizenberg on the False Bay coast with a few friends foot-stomping the grapes.

 

The Garagiste winemaking movement started in France where the term 'garage-owner' was deprecatingly used when Valandraud, produced by Jean-Luc Thunevin made a name for itself and became the first garagiste wine to be noticed by Robert Parker – the American wine guru - scoring 93/100 in 1995.

 “We got the best notes of the vintage,” says Thunevin, “better than Pétrus… I became a personality very fast because of Parker. I began to be spoken of in the same breath as winemakers like Guigal.”  This was later followed by Marojallia, made by Jean-Luc Thunevin’s wife Murielle, from a small parcel of grapes in the Margaux Appellation.  On their website they still refer to the wines of Chateau Valandraud as vin de garage.

Cathy Marshall was the progenitor of the South African Garagiste Movement when in the summer of 1996 she made her first three barrels of Shiraz at a beach party in Muizenberg on the False Bay coast with a few friends foot-stomping the grapes. She put a handmade label on it and distributed it amongst those who helped. 

From that first day on the beach she developed a leading South African brand, BWC or Barefoot Wine Company, the origin of Catherine Marshall Wines. While Cathy Marshall’s volumes are now too big to still be referred to as garagiste, she is considered an honorary member of the movement.

Cathy has been somewhat of a peripatetic winemaker, using the cellars of friends to make her wines and consulting for some foremost Cape cellars like Lindhorst and Ridgeback.

Time has come for her to launch her brand and the house, Catherine Marshall Wines, was introduced to us at a charming luncheon at The Wild Fig in Cape Town recently.  A cellar is being built in Elgin - home to some fabulous cool climate wines. 

All her wines are produced from grapes selected by Cathy with the support of quality growers. And over the years as she has got to know producers and vineyards better her Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah grapes now come from sites best suited to each variety.

A successful collaboration with acclaimed local artist Hannetjie de Clercq has added so much to Cathy’s labels.  Hannetjie brings her own special magic with new paintings each year.

 

My tasting notes on Cathy’s 5 wines are unconventional but I hope can give you an insight to these wondrous wines

Catherine Marshall Sauvignon Blanc 2007, made from Durbanville grapes, racy acidity, minerally, grassy notes with delicious granadilla and mango in the mid palate and a long citrussy ending.

Catherine Marshall Pinot Noir 2006, Elgin grapes, great food wine, black and red cherry strawberry nose, classic restraint, cranberry fruit, combination of Old World and New World styles, not much new barrel used in the 12 month maturation, Cathy practices batonnage in which the wine is stirred in the barrel to flesh out the flavours, needs time, buy now for later pleasure.

Catherine Marshall Syrah 2005, northern Paarl grapes grown in a warm area, very Rhone Valley restrained style, food wine definitely, sappy berry fruit and an almost “wet stone” minerality to it.

Catherine Marshall Syrah-Mourvedre 2005, organically grown Mourvedre, lovely spice, cinnamon, cardamom and plums, Cathy used Burgundy coopers for her barrels, more suited to her style of wine.

Catherine Marshall Myriad 2003 this is a Pinot Noir Merlot blend, like Banyul - a Southern French sweet wine, fortified with 3 year old oaked spirit in 8 year old barrels, handmade, foot stomped and pressed by hand, hand filtered and hand bottled, utterly and deeply delicious as an ‘end-of-meal’ wine.