2020 was simply perfect. With low rainfall and fabulous weather 2020 will go down in the history books as one of the best on record. In fact, according to Te Mata Estate CEO Nick Buck – this is the best in Te Mata’s history.
Read the Technical Report from Te Mata’s Senior Winemaker Phil Brodie here…
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Make sure you’re signed up to the Te Mata Club here. You can also just email your address and phone details to [email protected] or call us 0800 836 282.
2019 was a warm, dry, easy grape-growing season that has produced some of our most exciting results yet.
Budbreak, flowering and veraison (colour change) were all early. December was warm, and January very warm, with 10 days around or just over 30 degrees.
Good early soil moisture and warm temperatures created big grape canopies and great ripeness. Warm nights lead to very few dews or fogs, contributing to the luxury of this fairly relaxed harvest. Dry, settled weather enabled all blocks of grapes to be picked at ideal ripeness in a far more leisurely fashion than usual.
Sauvignon blanc and chardonnay were picked between 14 and 22 March, well ripened and in superb condition. The young wines exhibit ripe stone fruit and citrus aromas and flavours and impressive palate weight.
Soils continued to dry giving the vital stress conditions necessary to maximise colour, flavour and tannin concentration in the reds. These were picked almost every day from the 25 March until finishing on the 14 April. They already show excellent flavour, great colour and tannin.
2019 is a very good vintage. We’re excited to get these out. Time will tell, but this could be one of our best.
Download our full technical report from winemaker Peter Cowley here…
Each Friday during May 2020 we will be hosting InstagramLive tastings at 5pm. They will be held in different parts of the winery with winemakers and family members and start with the most releases. You can watch @temataestatewinery on Instagram or send questions ahead to [email protected]. All wines discussed are currently available online.
2019 was a warm, dry, easy grape-growing season that has produced some of our most exciting results yet. We’re excited to get these out. Time will tell, but this could be one of our best.
Spring
Average winter rainfall and 100mm of rain early September ensured plenty of soil moisture going
into the 2018/19 season. The rest of September, October and most of November were very dry.
Around 100mm of rain fell on the 25th and 26th of November. Three mornings around zero degrees
in both September and October were a worry but only slight frost damage occurred in one
vineyard. November warmed up nicely and heat summation by the end of the month was average
for spring.
Budbreak was early as was flowering which was about 10 days early and finished by early
December. Two cool days late November affected flowering in some chardonnay and merlot
reducing the crop a little.
Summer
December was warm with many days around 25 degrees and a few closer to 30. Conditions were
dry until 100mm of rain fell over Christmas wetting up soils. Soils were drying nicely and the driest
parts of some vineyards were receiving irrigation when another 90mm of rain fell between the 14th
and 16th of January. The rain events early to mid-summer were not ideal but they came with cooler
weather, passed quickly and were followed by warm and dry conditions.
No further rain fell in January and the month was very warm with 10 days around or just over 30
degrees. Nights were warm. Heat summation for the year to the end of January was 90 degree days
above average which is significant.
Vineyard soils dried out quickly late January driven by favourable weather and big, healthy vine
canopies. Veraison (colour change) was under way early in most blocks in the first week in
February and strangely, was led by Syrah which is normally later than other varieties. February was
very warm and dry until the 24th when a southerly storm produced 40mm of rain which dried out
quickly in strong cool winds. By this time all shoot growth had stopped due to water stress and
the drier vineyards needed irrigation.
Autumn
March began and ended with a few cooler days but most highs were a very warm 25 to 30 degrees
and the only rain was 15mm from a few showers around the 9th of the month. We harvested
Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay between the 14th and 22nd well ripened and in very good
condition. Warm nights contributed to low malic acids in the grapes and reduced the number of
dews we experienced. Soils continued to dry giving the vital stress conditions necessary to
maximise colour, flavour and tannin concentration in red varieties. We noted some lovely flavours
developing in Merlot grapes early, in the last week of March.
April temperatures were variable with some cooler periods amongst warmer days and mild nights.
It remained dry with only one showery day holding up picking. Red varieties were picked almost
every day from the 25th of March until finishing on the 14th of April. The dry, settled weather
enabled all blocks of grapes to be picked at ideal ripeness in a more leisurely fashion than is usual.
Summary
Vintage timing, all season ran 1-2 weeks ahead of our long term average. Crop levels were normal
in size. Good early soil moisture and warmer than average temperatures created big grape canopies
that promoted good ripeness and helped dry out soils after early summer rain. These rain events
were too early for botrytis concerns and the small amount of rain later in the season was short in
duration and dried quickly in favourable weather. Variously warm, cloudy or windy nights, mid
and late season lead to very few light dews and no fogs contributing to the luxury of negligible
botrytis pressure. Monthly heat summations were mostly above average with January being well
above average. Between the mid-January rain and the end of picking in April only 70mm of rain
fell which is less than half the long term average. 2019 was a warm and dry season. Apart from
extra trimming of early season growth this was an easy grape growing season.
White grapes were picked at good sugar levels and in very good condition. The young wines exhibit
ripe stone fruit and citrus aromas and flavours and impressive palate weight.
Red grapes were ripened to perfection and the wines show excellent flavour, colour and tannin.
2019 is a very good vintage. Time will tell if it is amongst our best.
Rainfall
Sept 206mm, Oct 29mm, Nov 56mm, Dec 95mm, Jan 78mm, Feb 49mm, Mar 19mm, Apr 45mm
Heat Summation
1571 degree days to the end of April. 1513 to the last day of picking
Download the full technical report from Senior Winemaker Peter Cowley here…
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First planted in 1999, Te Mata’s twenty-year pinot noir vision comes to fruition with the 1 July global release of Te Mata Estate Alma Pinot Noir.
This ambitious multi-decade project reflects Te Mata Estate’s dedication to the highest standards of New Zealand fine wine. These are the first new Te Mata Estate wines released this century from the premium producer of New Zealand reds and capture Te Mata’s exacting standards of excellence, quality and finesse.
This is pinot noir that speaks of its mature, low-cropped origins, a blend of four clones, grown on inland, elevated, river terraces, hand-harvested, with every step of production under the direct control of Te Mata Estate’s Philip Brodie.
Midnight-dark with a deep crimson edge, Alma ’18 is a triumph of aromatic wild strawberry, black cherry, currants, marzipan, sage and sandalwood. The palate’s ripe, sustained, structure reveals a parade of spice and brooding, soft, dark, berry fruits and rich savoury tannins – set to unfurl with time. Cherry, black plum, cinnamon and smoke, all glide across a palate which is wonderfully deep-set.
Finely-dressed for its debut, the premiere release of Alma ’18 is modern, majestic, and enchanting in its detail.
The introduction of Alma ’18 is accompanied by Estate Vineyards Pinot Noir ’18.
Alma Pinot Noir ’18 and Estate Vineyards Pinot Noir ’18 is strictly allocated across all markets and will be available in 750ml bottles. Alma Pinot Noir is priced at $59.90RRP and Estate Vineyards Pinot Noir ’18 at $29.90RRP.
THE BATTLE OF ALMA
Alma celebrates Dr James Thomson, a hero of the 1854 Battle of the Alma during the Crimean War and forefather to Te Mata Estate’s Buck family. Knowing the vanquished enemy soldiers had already contracted cholera, Dr Thomson volunteered to tend to their wounds, saving the lives of over four hundred, and sacrificing his own in the process. His act of selfless humanity remains worthy of the highest possible praise. It is commemorated by a monument in the Scottish Highlands near his home, and by the medal he was awarded for his valour. That medal appears on the label of Alma Pinot Noir.
Te Mata Estate pioneered Hawke’s Bay pinot noir in the 1890s, producing a small amount for the winery’s first vintage in 1896.
The vineyards were in the Havelock Hills, and the grapes hand-harvested and vinified in the same buildings we use today – the oldest operating winery in New Zealand. The quality of the first pinots immediately drew recognition, selling quickly and capturing the attention of international wine writer Romeo Bragato.
‘Mr Chambers, of Te Mata, has a small vineyard of Pinots and a quarter-acre of Black Hamburghs, which are doing well. Here I tasted some beautiful wine…’
Romeo Bragato, Report on the Prospects of Viticulture in New Zealand
‘At the end of a busy first day, one vat was filled with pinot, another with the first of the claret.’
Bernard Chambers Daybook-Diary 1896
After much consideration, a twenty-year project was established in 1999 at an elevated, inland site specially chosen by the Te Mata Estate winemaking team. Having worked in Burgundy for Domaine F & L Saier, the owners of Domaine Saier in Mercurey and Clos des Lambrays in Morey-Saint-Denis, winemaker Philip Brodie oversaw development. Small production wines have been periodically released to favourable critical attention. Again their quality was immediately recognized, in the US by the Wall Street Journal and in the UK
by Jancis Robinson.
Te Mata Estate’s commitment meant that long-term research and development could continue being undertaken to create even greater depth and finesse in these wines. In 2019, we are excited to release the culmination of a story that, like the estate itself, has been 125 years in the making.
When Te Mata Estate – where the first wines flowed in 1895 – unveiled several of it’s 2017 whites and 2018 reds I was looking for the signs of challenging vintages. the good news is that the 2018s look delicious young and the Coleraine ’17 is as classy as ever.’
COLERAINE ’17 – FIVE STARS
Since the debut 1982 vintage, Coleraine has stood out for its fragrance, complexity and subtlety.This is a full-coloured, mouth-filling red with notably concentrated, well ripened blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, braced by firm tannins, and impressive harmony.
‘The auction of a unique collection of Te Mata Coleraine not only made a stir within the wine media, it also made the record books.
The result, which saw the 32-vintage collection of Coleraine fetch $19,000, left Te Mata Estate’s sales and marketing manager Toby Buck smiling.
The news raced across the winemaking and wine media landscape with Fine & Rare Wines specialist Marcus Atkinson noting that the result had effectively made it two records in a row for Te Mata Estate. In 2016 a Coleraine vertical collection went for $6,500 under the hammer at an auction in Auckland. It equated to $195 a bottle and became the largest single wine collection and overall auction price for any New Zealand wine.
“Until now,” he said.
“At almost $600 a bottle this is the highest auction price achieved for any collection of New Zealand wine,” he said of the recent auction staged in Napier as a build-up to the Hawke’s Bay Wine Auction next month.
The result came as no surprise for many wine writers, including several from across the Tasman. Huon Hooke of Australia’s The Real Review described Coleraine as ‘a great wine from the very first vintage’. Andrew Graham of The Australian Wine Review said Coleraine possessed a reputation for unwavering consistency. ‘Please world, make every vertical like this.’
Earlier this month The Australian featured a profile of Te Mata Estate and described its Coleraine as ‘a beautifully elegant expression of Hawke’s Bay that has cemented its reputation as one of New Zealand’s finest wines’.
Coleraine connoisseurs and devotees have only a little over four months to wait for the next addition to the globally-lauded line.’
