2023 Coleraine

Full bottle 1,316 g. 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc. Product of the Cyclone Gabrielle vintage but these varieties were picked long after its arrival, and Te Mata is not on the wide valley that was worst affected. Picked 31 March to 17 April. This was apparently ‘the longest growing season ever with very low yields and small berries’. It was the second-hottest on record, the wettest and the longest harvest period (53 days) and the most expensive. TA 5.9 g/l. pH 3.73. Mellow – excellent tannin management – and already accessible. Pure cassis and pure, ripe fruit leading up to a dry finish. Needs food but not desperately. Still youthful but certainly drinkable. Perhaps it lacks the depth of the best vintages but is extremely respectable. (JR)

The 2023 Coleraine comprises 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc. This cuvée is not made to a recipe, rather as a selection of the best from each vintage. In 2023, due to the weather induced by Cyclone Gabrielle, which landed in early February (the second or third), the strongest performer was the Cabernet Sauvignon due to bunch architecture, small berries, thick skins and, in this case, the low-vigor rootstocks and the chicory in between the rows. Te Mata invests heavily into research and development in the vineyards, which really assists in a vintage like 2023, which imposes challenges. The elevation in all aspects of this wine from the already tremendously impressive Awatea is significant. Here, the tannins have a finer grain, the fruit is more persistent and the package is far more integrated and seamless. With raspberry, iodine, crushed shells, nori, pressed flowers, new lead pencil, tobacco, bramble and cassis, it is magnificent. Raw cocoa and the gentle and subtle creep of game/gristle/blood and sweet marrow indicate its direction later in life. I love this wine. I think I write that every time I taste it. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.

The 2023 Coleraine is a young yet ageworthy Cabernet-dominant blend that shows layer of flavor, concentration, integration and length in the face of the wrath of nature. Despite a cyclone that swept through the region in the second week of February, these late-picked varieties have demonstrated incredible resilience. It is a massive surprise to see how good the 2023 is. Expect plenty of nuance here: initially the nose offers up pure cassis fruit and tapenade, smoky tobacco and bay leaf, while flavors of integrated cedar oak and the merest hint of violet follows on the long, elegant finish. Richness of substance and fine gravelly tannins currently require a decent hunk of meat, but you'd be better off laying this down for at least five years.