Cabernet Merlot Coleraine, Te Mata Estate 2023

The elevation in all aspects of this wine from the already tremendously impressive Awatea is significant. Here, the tannins have a finer grain, the fruit is more persistent and the package is far more integrated and seamless. With raspberry, iodine, crushed shells, nori, pressed flowers, new lead pencil, tobacco, bramble and cassis, it is magnificent. Raw cocoa and the gentle and subtle creep of game/gristle/blood and sweet marrow indicate its direction later in life. I love this wine. Drink: 2024-2043

The 2023 Coleraine is a young yet ageworthy Cabernet-dominant blend that shows layer of flavor, concentration, integration and length in the face of the wrath of nature. Despite a cyclone that swept through the region in the second week of February, these late-picked varieties have demonstrated incredible resilience. It is a massive surprise to see how good the 2023 is. Expect plenty of nuance here: initially the nose offers up pure cassis fruit and tapenade, smoky tobacco and bay leaf, while flavors of integrated cedar oak and the merest hint of violet follows on the long, elegant finish. Richness of substance and fine gravelly tannins currently require a decent hunk of meat, but you'd be better off laying this down for at least five years. Drink: 2028-2043