Monday, June 15, 2009

Te Mata - New Releases - some further comments

The 2007 Te Mata Coleraine is highly regarded by pretty much everybody, but I remain a sceptic. The wine simply does not have enough volume. The structure may be great, but it needs to be good now to be good in the future.

I am starting to understand better what is happening. The vintage was rather cool, but the hang time for the grapes was quite long. Some people have the theory that this generates well balanced and long lasting wines. This reminds me of the 2002 vintage in the Barossa, which was described thus. I think it is becoming increasingly clear that that vintage was not so great, and many wines consist of underripe grapes.

I am not saying the Coleraine is green or leafy, but it is not a masterpiece, in my view.

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