This Week's Wine Review
 

Te Mania 2010 Koha Ice Wine
 

This week's wine is a desert wine from Te Mania in Nelson. Te Mania is a family run business started by Jon and Cheryl Harrey in 1990. It is located on Nelson's free draining alluvial plains and Te Mania is the Maori name for 'The Plains'. The stony soils of the vineyard combined with Nelson's cool maritime climate and high sunshine hours provide a perfect location for producing quality fruit.

For this particular wine with the Maori name for gift, the fruit was hand harvested at the peak of ripeness. The grapes used were Riesling, which produce excellent concentrated, aromatic sweet wines. Once at the winery, the grapes were whole bunch pressed and the juice was cool fermented to capture the fruit characteristics.

If you are wondering what separates an ice wine from other desert wines like a late harvest Riesling, this wine has been frozen then thawed to separate ice or water, leaving concentrated fruit flavours and sweetness.

I found the pale straw 2010 Te Mania Koha Ice Wine to be a vibrant sweet wine with aromas of apple, citrus fruit and, spring blossom with underlying mineral notes on the nose. The palate has flavours of apple, pear, sweet naval orange, and honey with a hint of toffee leading to a long, lingering finish. It is a wine that is easy to drink and appreciate. I would recommend it with tropical fruit salads or fruit tart. I would also expect it to still be drinking well over the next three to five years with careful cellaring. 

Reviewed by Stephen Clark (24/1/2012)

Brought to you by Swan Lake @ Cashmere
 

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