TE KANO LIFE SERIES RIESLING 2023

Gold Medal – New World Wine Awards 2025

Winery notes (2023 Vintage)
"Te Kano Life Riesling 2023 is an award-winning Otago wine with vibrant, moreish fruit sweetness balanced by lively, refreshing acidity. Pale straw with a green edge, it opens with aromas of honeysuckle, mandarin, ripe lemon and a subtle slate note. The palate is expressive and juicy, showing mandarin, Meyer lemon and tropical hints of lychee and pineapple. A burst of ripe fruit is lifted by crisp, mouth-watering acidity, creating a fresh, well-balanced finish. 

Our Life Series Riesling was the last fruit picked in 2023. The Northburn parcel comes from our highest elevation terrace at approximately 350m above sea level. This block is windy and exposed and the vines struggle to ripen. Soils are glacial in origin with pockets of wind-blown loess on the Southern side, very hard virgin schist on the exposed northern edges, and some pedogenic limestone layers in the bottom parts of slopes where tundra glacial washout also appears. The Waitaki parcel comes from 20-year-old, unirrigated vines grown on alluvial river terraces made predominantly of sedimentary and alluvial soils with a significant limestone presence throughout the soil profile."

5 Stars & 95/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, March 2026 (2023 Vintage)
"It's gorgeously fruited and enticing on the nose with golden peach, orange peel, lemon sorbet, and rich floral aromas. The palate displays juicy fruit intensity and fleshy texture, wonderfully complemented by delectable sweetness and fine acidity, making it harmonious and delicious with a persistent, refined finish. Style: Medium. At its best: now to 2033."

5 Stars & 95/100 Candice Chow, CandiceWineChat.com (2023 Vintage)
"An off-dry Riesling packed with precision, tangy acidity, and citrus, flows through the palate with a chalky mineral texture. Tropical fruit and sweetness counterbalance the tension and ring a fluid, long finish. Precise aromas of lime, mandarin, guava, elderflower and stony minerals."

Rated Excellent & 94/100 Cameron Douglas MS, October 2026 (2023 Vintage)
"A delicious wine with aromas and flavours of fresh heirloom red apple, lemon and makrut leaves, there’s a sweet serbet scent and saline mineral suggestion. An off-dry expression with a rush of sweetness invading the palate first, this is contrasted by the acid line which is pretty high delivering a mouthfeel of concentration and length. Flavours of apple and citrus, honeysuckle and white blossoms. The mineral qualities continue to develop as the wine is warmed by the palate. BEst drinking from day of purchase through 2035+."

92/100 Sammy Wilkinson, TheWineWriter.com (2023 Vintage)
"Deep golden hue, bursting with citrus blossom and jasmine on the nose. Ripe lemon, candied lime zest, and slatey minerality meld with pineapple, ginger, and dried apricot aromas. A sweet limey rush glides across the palate, lifted by a honey-blossom perfume, before green apple and zesty citrus flavours. The finish is long and lively, balancing snappy acidity with just the right touch of medium-sweet roundness. This is a lovely drop – where freshness and tension keep the sweetness perfectly in check."