April 24, 2024 - Drinking well. Nice fruit good tertiary characteristics
April 1, 2024 - A study in refinement.
A disclosure upfront. If there's any wine I 'grew up with’, it’s Coleraine. Dad did the engineering work on the 1890s stables that were converted into the original winery (now a barrel hall within a more modern structure). He also did the owner's house that adorns the Coleraine label. Dad said engineering the ‘phallic’ chimneys was the hardest challenge he faced. The home so-named Coleraine vineyard was the base for the wine, until it became a cuvee of the best fruit in the Bay. All that aside, I am confident this note is as objective as one can strive for.
Stunning colour for a near 20 year old. Dark purples/crimsons, a crimson rim with only a tinge of brick.
If a bouquet can seem smooth, then the aroma achieves that quality. Immensely perfumed. Black currant, blueberry even, a mellow woodsy/autumnal and cedary streak. Darker olive and graphite things lurk here too. Deep aromas.
Likewise, a deep-seated medium palate. Beautifully balanced, depth (did I mention it's deep?) and suppleness, both fine and firm, medium bodied and suave, with just the right touch of grip. Still fresh. Elegant line and length.
At its mid-point, at most for mine. We need to wait for it's tertiary years, whenever they might fall, for more complexity to come. For now, a very satisfying 'Claret'.
An easy 10-20 years beckon. Coleraine on a cruise. Provided the cork doesn't falter or fail. Why? Why do they persist with the anachronistic voodoo of the cork?
January 7, 2024 - Graphite, still has fruit. Better bottle than previous. No rush to drink rest.
December 29, 2023 - In a great place, slow ox for a couple of hours. No detailed notes but still had plenty of sweet fruit together with some tertiary complexity. Drank with an overly young St Emilion grand cru and this far outshone the younger wine.
August 22, 2023 - Starting to dry out
August 16, 2023 - Probably near its limit of age for me because I like to taste some of that wonderful Hawkes Bay fruit that Te Mata get in their wines. However its still enormously enjoyable, nice aged balance and with a good elegant finish. Drink soon for me.
October 31, 2022 - An awesome wine at perfect drinking window.
June 26, 2022 - Had on a picnic. Cork split just beyond the corkscrew the remainder removed in one piece. Cork was clean. Deep ruby red all the way to the rim. Nose is floral, lavender being the dominant note. Palate is black fruited with completely integrated tannins. Very good.
May 15, 2022 - This is so good. Had against the 2013, which is excellent but too young and a bit tannic still (will be great in 5 years). The '05 is very similar profile of flavour, some pencil lead but delightful mix of berry fruits in balance with some smooth tannin and nice acid. Very good drinking window now for probably another 5-10 years. Does not need decanting but benefits if you have time, but no more than 2 hours (for me its better within 1/2hr).
April 7, 2021 - brief London tasting note, Jan' 2020.
94 today but feels will be a 95 wine before it flags. Wow. The best Te Mata red I've had to-date. An outstanding near-mature 15 yr old Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, red.
Decanted on table by Te Mata staff, at least 2 hrs before tasting.
C....just fading on edge, no real indication of it's 15 yrs age
N....lovely dry leather/tar/baccy/dusty oak complexity and charm; medium intensity; exciting
T....very settled, if not mature certainly drinking very very well; soft and easy; all the elements of Nose reflected in taste, a pleasure to drink; still retaining sound structure; mature maybe 2025? Ends almost dry. Wonderful balance/elegance, gorgeous fruit.
VFM?....I don't know Rec RP for this, if it is available to buy, but I would have been happy to pay £80