Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2022

Speaking with winemaker Phil Brodie, he tells me that it was an interesting year, with some rain events in spring, then the highest number of days above 30c in summer experienced to date, a little rain during the early part of vintage, with the second half of vintage drying out. Very small berries in 2022, with crops about 40% down on average.

I tasted this over two days, and gee, it really moved about. Started off with a pop of fragrance and more rugged tannin, then it eased itself back into a more typical Coleraine profile, though for sure it’s a different style in some respects with its unusually high Cabernet Sauvignon component of 84%, the remainder being 13% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Release date is around Feb 2024.

Black fruit, some red, pencil lead, a little aniseed and floral perfume, nori, baking spice, pimento, slight vanilla. Medium-bodied, a fair bit of chew, dark fruit and dark chocolate, porcini mushroom umami, grainy tannin, concentrated and chewy, earthy and ferrous, with a bright line of very ‘mineral’ acidity on a long finish. Excellent, albeit a more Cabernet focussed expression of Coleraine, which marks it out as being different, and on that point such a worthy of addition to the cellar, though of course the wine is outstanding irrespective of that. 96 Points - Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

The 2022 Coleraine is laden at this stage with the outrageous attractiveness of youth. I mean, it’s irresistible. There’s raspberry, nori, rose petals, coffee grounds, star anise, salted licorice, sun-dried kelp/nori, warm pine (I know this smell because I was hiking around the Te Mata peak yesterday, and there was a fallen pine tree lying in the sun, and it smelled great) and layers of peppercorns. In the mouth, the wine is so fresh, so alive, with so much energy, but it already is showing the svelte line of this house, this place. With a hint of raw cocoa laced through the finish, I’m sad to push this glass away. It will be the last time that I taste it for a while. A ripper. Excellent. This is composed of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc. 97+ Points - Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate