Momento Wines: A passion for Grenache

In just over a decade Momento, in South Africa’s boutique Bot River region, has added its name to the crowded but illustrious list of new Cape wine projects.

This rapid success is down to the passion and determination of the talented Marelise Niemann who founded the label in 2013.

Scroll down for tasting notes and scores of six new-release Momento wines

We meet at the start of the 2024 vintage. It’s late January and grapes are already arriving at the winery; the only problem is that Marelise is in London.

She is meant to be shopping, having extended her trip by a day to pick up gifts for her family. But instead of being on Regent Street she is on her phone, exchanging WhatsApp messages with her picking team in the Western Cape.

She seems energised by the adrenaline of the harvest and one thing quickly becomes clear: she has vineyards on the brain. It’s rather like talking to someone who is in love. All conversational roads lead to vineyards, grapes and farms, and doubly so when they feature Grenache.

Getting started

After studying winemaking at Stellenbosch University, Marelise’s first major post was as assistant winemaker from 2007 to 2014 at Beaumont Family Wines in Bot River, where she worked under second-generation owner Sebastian Beaumont.

‘I studied for four years, and then I had to unlearn all of that to become more creative again,’ Marelise says.

Starting with a new perspective was formative, and her early years at Beaumont shaped her later priorities.

‘Saz [Sebastian] farms like an absolute pro. He is a farmer more than a winemaker, which is the way it should be,’ she says.

Farming is also in Marelise’s blood. Her grandparents owned a dairy and vegetable farm in Grabouw in Elgin where she spent a lot of time as a child.

‘Even when I was older I went to the farm and developed a great love for agriculture during those days. Even though my grandfather was not farming grapes, he was the most important person getting me into farming in the first place.

‘During those years with Sebastian, I did harvests in France, Spain, Portugal, everywhere I could,’ she continues. However, it wasn’t a bottle of wine from an iconic domain that inspired Momento, but the vineyards of Priorat in Spain.

‘At Terroir Al Límit I really started connecting with Grenache. I started forming this relationship with Grenache.’

Finding the focus

Marelise bought her first Grenache grapes in 2011, after returning from Priorat. She managed to get in touch with a grape farmer who had a Grenache vineyard with 50-year-old vines in Eendekuil, near Piekenierskloof in what was then the up-and-coming region of Swartland.

‘I ended up buying two tonnes with Donovan Rall [of Rall Wines in Swartland]. He picked it because he didn’t have a day job then.’

She smiles. ‘Our friend in Stellenbosch University secretly kept it in the cold room overnight. I took Sebastian’s bakkie [pickup truck] the next morning at 4am and drove to the university and collected the grapes, all secretly.’

‘I made it at Beaumont and when I bottled it the next year, I thought, yes, I’m gonna start a project and I’m gonna call it Momento. I phoned the farmer and he said, “Sorry – I’ve just ripped out the vineyard”.’

Marelise was undeterred. ‘It was sad, but it made me focus on getting to know the different Grenaches of South Africa. It also gave me a real urgency to make sure people know that Momento is a long-term project.’

After the loss of the original vineyard for her 2011 harvest, the close-knit Cape winemaking community was there to support Marelise’s vision of site-driven Grenache – even though, in 2011, it was largely a blending grape used to bulk out inexpensive wines.

‘I went through a few phases of different grapes, and Grenache was the one that always just kept coming back to me.’

Momento: At a glance

Founded 2013 (with 2011 vintage)

Owner Marelise Niemann

Winery Anysbos, Bot River since 2019 (formerly made at Beaumont until 2014, and Gabrielskloof from 2015 to 2018)

Bottles 25,000 a year on average

Vineyards Parcels from 12ha to 15ha on contract from 10 farms

Varieties Chenin Blanc, Verdelho, Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc, Grenache Noir, Tinta Barocca

New projects Three new site-specific Grenache Noir bottlings launching in 2024, from sandstone, schist and shale soils.

The way forward

In 2014, with the help of celebrated Cape viticulturalist Rosa Kruger (winner of the 2022 Decanter Hall of Fame award), she was able to access a new source of Grenache.

The plot is next door to Raaigras, the oldest Grenache vineyard in the Cape, currently in the hands of Adi Badenhorst, founder of AA Badenhorst in Swartland. ‘This is an older clone, thick-skinned, light-coloured. It’s got beautiful tannins,’ Marelise remarks.

But, she notes, Grenache is not an easy variety to work with. ‘People see a Grenache vineyard and it’s hardy, it’s well adapted, it can take sun, it can take heat, it can take dry conditions. But once the grapes are picked, it is the complete opposite. Once you pick the grapes, it is not so hardcore – then, it’s very sensitive.’

Despite her romance with Grenache, in those early years Marelise developed a parallel enthusiasm for Portuguese varieties, initially kindled with Sebastian Beaumont.

In 2013 she released two new wines. One was a Chenin Blanc with a considerable proportion of Verdelho in the blend. The other, a red made from Tinta Barocca, an old Portuguese variety from the Douro originally brought to the Cape for Port-style fortified wines. The white wine remains Marelise’s best seller.

In 2017 she was able to acquire a parcel of Grenache Gris, and in 2019 a plot of Grenache Blanc followed, completing the trinity. The Grenache Gris is a scant four rows within a larger vineyard, the only one in the Cape, and Marelise often does four or five laborious picks.

‘People probably think I’m nuts,’ she admits.

The Grenache Blanc started as a single vineyard on granite, with two new additions from 2022, also on granite, to increase production.

Next steps

The direction of travel for Momento is clear. ‘I love my Chenin and Verdelho,’ Marelise says, ‘but my main focus is Grenache. I can see myself in 10 years only making Grenache.

‘I believe in focusing and learning and getting to know certain varieties that you love and not multi-tasking. I’m excited about Grenache and I’m excited about the future of the grape for South Africa because it’s becoming even more hot and dry.’

Marelise will add three new expressions of Grenache Noir to her range, starting with the 2022 vintage, released this year. ‘I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but the time was not right. First I had to get people to drink Grenache! Now they’re drinking it, I can show them the next phase.’

She emphasises that it isn’t about promoting single vineyards, although her commitment to finding and bottling the fruit of old, distinctive sites is a thread that runs through our time together.

The new releases will showcase sandstone (Piekenierskloof in Olifants River), schist (Riebeekberg in Swartland) and shale (Bot River), while her current Grenache from granite soils in Swartland will be renamed Paardeberg to fit within the range.

There is no doubt Marelise thinks Grenache is a pragmatic variety to champion in climate change-inflected South Africa. But it’s far from a calculated angle. Hers is a practical love, a farmer’s pleasure in the well-crafted tool, the beautiful implement.

‘I’d love to buy parcels of Grenache and then farm them, own them, work with them, invest in them, and obviously plant. If I have any money to invest, it will be in vineyards and not in an estate. I just love Grenache. I love working with it,’ Marelise laughs. ‘I love making it, I love drinking it.’

Momento: six new releases

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