Catherine Marshall WinesAmatra Chenin Blanc "Jono's Wave" 2016 (R74,83 per bottle, 6 bottles)

About

Catherine Marshall Wines is an Independent Wine Company producing hand-crafted, premium wines in the Elgin Valley along the Cape South Coast. The vines are grown in cool climate conditions, produce intense, bright, pure and fresh wines of character. Catherine Marshall is the first eponymous range in South Africa to be released by a woman winemaker. Chenin Blanc 100%, Elgin & Stellenbosch

Tasting notes

White peach top notes with fleshy ripe nectarines on the core and crisp green apple acidity fans out the tail on the finish.  A rich, mid-palate of lanoline adds depth and complexity to the wet granite stone texture.

Philosophy

To apply a classic, cool and restrained approach to a generally accepted warmer climate variety prevalent in most of South Africa. The thought is to harmoniously balance the fresh backbone of laser‐like acidity with a ripe, broad-spectrum array of fruit.

Vineyards

Grapes were selected from two vineyards‐ one in Elgin on Bokkeveld Shales and Hutton soils in Stellenbosch. Elgin vines were vertically shoot positioned on a five-wire fence system planted 2.2m x 1.2m apart on south and south-east-facing slopes to enhance more even budburst and resultant ripening. The vines in Stellenbosch were from old bush vines with low to moderate yields as they are old vines (about 47 years old) Production averaged at 6‐8 tons per hectare from Elgin vines and low yields of 4‐5 tons per hectare on the Stellenbosch site. Harvesting took place in Elgin in March and mid‐February in Stellenbosch.

Winemaking

Both cluster and berry sorting commenced prior to being partially crushed. The mash was pressed in a pneumatic bag press where both free run and pressed fractions were treated oxidatively with minimal chemical additives. The juice was settled cold for two days and then 45% was decanted to old 225-litre French casks, 50 and the remaining 5% was fermented cold in stainless steel with no commercial yeast strain innoculated. The wine has not been through secondary malolactic fermentation and matured for 9 months after which the different components were consolidated. The wine was lightly filtered to bottle and bottle matured for 11 months prior to release.

Analysis

• Alcohol: 13.50% 
• Acidity: 6.4g/l
• pH: 3.22
• Residual Sugar: 2.8g/l
• Total Extract: 21.4g/l  

Recommended food pairing

Seared Cape salmon, Scallops, Mussels with saffron; fragrantly spiced white meat and Sushi.

Recommended bottle maturation

The wine is approachable in its primary stage with fresh, bright fruit aromatics and may age well for five to eight years under optimal cellar conditions. Primary white peach and fresh apple fruit aromatics may evolve into nutty, spicy baked apple and cardamom notes.

Accolades:

90 points: Tim Atkin Report 4* John Platter Guide