Wine of the Week 69: Paserene Marathon 2021

Paserene is a small Franschhoek winery with a big mission. Together with co-owner Ndabe Mareda, winemaker Martin Smith wants to capture an unforgettable moment of time in a bottle. Martin’s goal is to create characterful boutique wines with a definable sense of place.

A Franschhoek farm (with an elegant contemporary tasting lounge and garden) as well as vineyards in Tulbagh and Elgin, give Martin three distinctive terroirs to explore. What links the three is sustainable production at the heart of the farming process, and Martin’s attention to detail in the winemaking process.

A Tulbagh cabernet sauvignon

Paserene planted a very special cabernet sauvignon in its Tulbagh vineyards. Surrounded by mountains on three sides, the valley’s hot Mediterranean climate with cool evenings allows the grapes to ripen fully while retaining structure and freshness. And the decomposed shale and sandy loam soils produce low yields of intensely concentrated berries, lending itself to wine that has richly developed flavours and long-lasting finishes.

The resulting Paserene Marathon 2021 continues a legacy that has been refined with each successive harvest since the first 2013 vintage. The gorgeous black-to-purple colour is a testimony to the quality of the hand-sorted grapes selected at harvest, and fermented in small, upright French oak barrels.

“It’s a great cabernet sauvignon from an area not previously known for cab,” says Martin. “The wine is good to drink now, but we recommend you keep it in your cellar for at least five years to mature nicely.” It will last for the next 30 years if cellared correctly, so makes a good investment, and ties in to Martin’s love for tasting older wines. “Truly old wines from the 1920s and 1940s are like a time capsule, a liquid photograph,” he says.

Paserene Marathon 2021

A wine built for the long game, evolving slowly and rewarding patience, aromas of blackcurrants, crème de cassis and liquorice are followed by dried flowers and black peppercorns. On the palate, the well-integrated tannins, fruit, alcohol and oak give this wine great finesse, body and weight.

This vintage is available for the first time in a magnum, of which only 400 have been bottled. It pairs beautifully with fat-marbled grilled meats such as a rack of lamb, rib eye steak, and duck.
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