How to create a catalog site with views and taxonomy?
Have a look at either of these modules, both have an official D7 version (quotes included are from their project pages):


Taxonomy Menu Block


  Taxonomy Menu Block allows you to make blocks containing unordered lists that represent the structure of your vocabularies, creating a menu out of your taxonomies (without using Drupal's menu system).
  
  Taxonomy Menu Block combines the idea of Taxonomy menu with the workings of Menu block:
  
  
  Make multiple menus per vocabulary.
  "Split" the taxonomy into different menus.
  This allows, for example, the creation of one menu with only the top items (parents) of a vocabulary and another menu with only the sub-items (children).
  Make a menu out of a specific branch of your vocabulary only.
  Follow the active trail, also for nodes coupled to a term with a term reference field.
  
  
  Taxonomy Menu Block also comes with its own theme function and a few hooks (see the .api.php file) that allows you to alter the generated data to your needs.

Taxonomy Block


  This module displays a list of taxonomy terms in a block from a single vocabulary.