| Te Mata Releases March 2006 |
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| Written by Craig Thomson | |
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Wow what a night, spittoons should be complusory at these tastings 2005 Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc. Very fine nose displaying hints of Thyme. Restrined, gentle and vinified palate. Searching and mecurial. Silky texture. Flavours of cape goosberries and guava with minerality flowing. Seriously elegant, seriously sensual and fine. This is great wine and I would have to say the best Sauvignon Blanc Te Mata has ever produced. It is in fact one of the very finest NZ Sauvignons I have ever tried (and ive tried thousands) 102 points $25 2005 Viognier. Im not usually so fussed on Viognier outside the odd vintage of Herzog, but this wasnt too shaby. Very fragrant, nicely weighted with mandarin flavours at the fore. Ccaefully and finely put together, silky and refined but I still just wasnt overly excited, dunno why. Sandwiched between ratings death maybe?? 93/109 $25 2005 Elston Chardonnay. Elston is a glorious wine at 3 years always. On release (2 weeks in the bottle) this wine is already looking very tidy. Powerful and finely structured, concentrated. Creamy, biscuity showing white peach, nectarine fruit, peach stone and caramel cream. Reasonably intergrated already when comparing to the 04. But mate, the length and persistance in the mouth is phenomenal. Amazing palate presense, searching flavours on the long long finish. Will be a great vintage of Elston. 99+/109 $35 2004 Bullnose Syrah. Hang on I better try this heard good things!! This is a really good wine. its a dinner party wine. interlectual, precise, perfectly and not over ripe. Good stuff but maybe loses out on qpr this vintage against the Awatea. 97/109 $42 2004 Awatea. Definately the best vintage of this label since the stunning 00. Dark fruited - blackberry (thank God at last!), supremely ripe and fine tannins (Yep they have remembere how again) and finely structured. Last year this label offered shocking qpr, this year it cruises into value for money category with stylish ease. A very fine Awatea, a definate buy year! Will improve. Tell me why we need 407?? 98/109 $33 2004 Coleraine. This label confuses me. Firstly lets cut to the chase. its a very good vintage but not a great vintage. I reckon its kinda in the mould of the 96 or 98. It is the quality of say the 96, which was a damn sexy vintage. I dunno how people say its like a 00 or 91 - its just not - Its not as overtly tannic and it isnt as expansive. It is dark, the nose is very rich dark, broad and creamy. very closed - sorta like a new latour?? Deep and perfumed, more richly textured than the Awatea with very fine soft tannins which basically hardly show under the wash of fruit. Beautifully ripe, interlectual and understated. Im just not totally convinced at $65 its twice the price of the Awatea for what seems like at this stage a fraction more quality - but I wasnt totally convinced with the 98 either and we all know what a waste of time not being convinced with that was!! 98 Awatea is nowhere near as good as the 98 coleraine now, where on release the were almost identical. Im gonna buy 3 in case im 'wrong' and save for a case of the 05. 99/109 $65 2005 in Hawkes Bay was a mega vintage. Selini who started in 1998 have produced in total 4 bottlings of 'EV' (super reserve) wines since their debut (98 merlot, 00 Merlot Cab??, 02 Chardy and 04 Noble Semillon). In 2005 alone they are producing 4 more just from that vintage!! From speaking to John Buck he knows Te Mata is sitting on some great red wine and is just keeping it to himself till the 04s are nearly gone id say. 04 was a very very good vintage. 05 looks like it could be groundbreaking. Im saving for the possible eventuality that i need a case of 05 Coleraine. Big tour this time next year is in the planning! Who wants to join me?? |
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| Last Updated ( Saturday, 17 March 2007 ) |
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