The 2010 season began very early. The hottest August on record was followed by a warm and dry September making budburst two weeks early, amidst thoughts of a “global warming” vintage. However, October turned out to be the coldest on record and, with greater than usual rainfall, led to a slowing down of vine growth and reduced bunch numbers on some varieties. By early January many of our vineyards were dry enough to require irrigation. This drying of vineyard soils by midsummer is crucial for red vineyards in particular as it leads to good ripening and concentration.
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Vintage 2009
2009 was the hottest growing season for the last ten years with the second lowest rainfall ever recorded since 1980, giving a superb vintage. Mild spring weather lead to budburst occurring 10 days earlier than usual. The rest of September continued mild and dry, with some days reaching 25 degrees. The warm to hot conditions carried on through October and November, with only one day of rain.
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Vintage 2008
2008 was an early, warm and dry growing season and our fifth consecutive high quality vintage. Two frosts in October caused problems on the Heretaunga Plains, but our Woodthorpe and Havelock Hills vineyards were unscathed. The Bullnose and Isosceles vineyard were touched in places by the frost, but our vineyard crew removed all frosted shoots which ensures that the remaining crop ripens normally and evenly.
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Vintage 2007
Good sized crops ripened to perfection in almost every case, so 2007 is one of those rare vintages of good quantity and high quality. After a wet winter, spring was settled, warm and dry. November was also dry and one of the warmest on record, leading to a rapid flowering and excellent fruit set giving full bunches. December was cooler than average but, again, without much rain, so that more arid blocks required irrigation by late in the month.
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Vintage 2006
2006 was a third very high quality vintage in a row for Te Mata Estate, following the excellent pattern established with 2004 and 2005. Bud burst was about a week early, following a dry end to winter 2005 and warm spring conditions. As we went into December, the soils were retaining good spring moisture and this, with the warm weather, lead to even and healthy shoot growth.
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Vintage 2005
2005 has been a vintage of the highest quality, where the mid-summer weather provided ideal conditions. The wines have now all finished fermentation and are currently undergoing maturation. Of particular note are the late ripening Bordeaux varieties, the flavours of which appear to have responded wonderfully to the January heat. At this early stage, these wines look as good as any vintage we can recall, including ’98 or ‘00.
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Vintage 2004
Winter 2003 finished very wet with about half our annual rainfall occurring in August and September. The timing of bud burst was normal however, and a warm spring ensured a very good and even flowering. Conditions through to December were mild and very dry with no rain in spring and early summer until we had an inch or so around Christmas. December and January were hot with the thermometer above 30 degrees Celsius on many occasions and typically above 25 degrees Celsius.
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Vintage 2003
2003 produced small crops in New Zealand due to a cool, frosty spring. Hawkes Bay had its share of this weather although Te Mata was fortunate enough to escape largely unscathed. With the exception of low crops for Chardonnay and Merlot our growing season was quite normal in every respect. Summer was dry, with only 35mm of rain recorded at Havelock North between 20 December – 25 February.
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Vintage 2002
Vintage 2002 was the longest harvest in Te Mata’s history. It began on Friday 15th March and finished, after nearly 7 weeks of picking, on Wednesday 1st May. It was a high quality growing season albeit with an unusual pattern. An early and warm spring progressed to a humid summer, and a very long, warm and dry autumn. The major feature was the “on-vine time” where the magnificent end of the season weather allowed each parcel of each variety to be harvested at optimum flavour ripeness.
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Vintage 2001
The single greatest factor in reviewing the 2001 vintage is the reduced volumes that were harvested due to the cool November flowering. Vineyard yields for 2001 were 50% of normal levels. Apart from November, it was a normal growing season in every other respect. As is often the case with low cropping years the quality is very high. The vineyards produced a very clean crop of fully ripe grapes that show good balance and concentration. The white wines exhibit the typical Hawkes Bay citrus and stonefruit characters, have good palate weight and are between the 1996 and 1997 vintages in style. The red wines appear similar to the 1991 vintage with good colour, rich fruit flavours and firm tannin structures.
