The Sum vs. The Components

Posted on July 3, 2008

Thursday 26 June 2008

Thanks to the team at Te Mata Estate we were able to run our “The Sum vs. The Components” tasting again this year. With pure varietals from the 2008 vintage that will be the components of the Te Mata Bordeaux blends we had a unique opportunity to look at how a wine maker can produce a Sum that is more than its Component parts. As well we tried some of the past blends from Te Mata to see what they have aimed for in blending.

The Components:

Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 (from Havelock North vineyards)

This was the stand out wine among the component varieties. There was a most attractive cassis and cedar/oak nose which was intense and perfectly matched to the brilliant, intense purple/red colour. It was a classic example of young Cabernet Sauvignon aroma. The palate was all ripe fruit with plenty of tannin and acid combined with great power. In such a young wine (the components are still months away from being combined in a blend) there are rough edges and a bit of harshness but this component suggests Cabernet Sauvignon is going to be a good proportion of the blend in Te Mata’s top 2008 wines.

Merlot 2008 (from Havelock North vineyards)

The Merlot was just as expected, a softer fruitier nose with the traditional pluminess of Merlot. Again the colour was an intense purple/red. On the palate it has nice tannin, ripe fruit and plenty of acid but without the power of the Cabernet Sauvignon. This was the component that had a touch of mineral character described by some as like Irish Moss. I thought that it had just a touch of volatility. As a component it was obvious that this could be used to soften out the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cabernet Franc 2008 (from Havelock North vineyards)

This was again a softer wine with limited tannin and a juicy character. It did not have the vibrant character of the Cabernet Sauvignon and it had the least appealing nose of the four components. The palate showed nice ripe fruit and good intensity. This was clearly another option for softening the Cabernet Sauvignon.

Petit Verdot 2008 (Woodthorpe vineyard)

True to its reputation the Petit Verdot was an intense purple/black colour and it had a very fragrant nose that was a surprise to me. This was a really attractive wine with peppery and spicy characters that suggested it could add some complexity to the blend. I thought that this was a fine example of Petit Verdot.

The Blends:

Te Mata Woodthorpe Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon 2005

Blended from: Merlot 57%, Cabernet Sauvignon 18%, Cabernet Franc 16%, Petit Verdot 9%.

This is Te Mata’s third level Bordeaux blend and their largest selling wine. It has an attractive nose with some cassis and soft oak combined with the dominant plummy character. The palate was soft and approachable but had nice fruit and moderate length. At three years old it is probably just about at its best as this is clearly aimed at early drinking. This is a clear example of the winemaker aiming for an approachable blend that does not need to be cellared to show its best.

Te Mata Awatea 2002

This wine caused a major split in our members. For quite a few it was the best wine of the evening with the aged characters showing on both the nose and palate. I was in the second group who thought that it had not kept. (A quick try of the two bottles we used did not show much difference between them.) For me it had developed an off-character that swamped the fruit and tannin both on the palate and on the nose.

Te Mata Awatea 2006

Blended from 36% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc, 38% Merlot and 11% Petit Verdot

This was every thing that would be expected of a top quality Hawke’s Bay Bordeaux blend. There was a lovely cassis nose with balanced cedar wood and still a beautiful youthful purple. This nose was just starting to show the change from fresh fruity young aromas to the more developed bouquet of dried fruit and cigar box. It is a nicely balanced wine but with plenty of restrained power and the potential to age well. It was quite obvious that this wine is intended to improve with age and that we were drinking it before its best.

Blending

So what of our attempts at blending? Not surprisingly they tended to fall into two groups, some based on Cabernet Sauvignon that were austere styles needing time to soften out and some based on Merlot that were much softer and immediately attractive. My observations based on personal efforts and those around me were:

Softening out the Cabernet Sauvignon with mainly Merlot was more successful than with more Cabernet Franc. The latter flattened out the lovely nose of the Cabernet Sauvignon too much. A decent measure of Petit Verdot gave some added characters and helped to maintain the lovely nose. For an ageing style then perhaps 50-60% C.S. with about 25% Merlot and rather more P.V. than C.F. seemed close to the money for me. For a softer early maturing style reversing the proportions of Merlot and C.S. seemed the way that most went.

A great fun evening doing something quite different to our regular tasting evenings and thanks to Te Mata Estate for providing the wines at some considerable effort.

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