Te Mata Estate Coleraine Cabernet Merlot Hawkes Bay – 2021

Coleraine is a Bordeaux-style blend which is made from the winery’s oldest and best plots of vines. It is widely recognised as New Zealand’s top red wine and the only one so far which can truly be described as a fine wine with its own secondary market.

Vintage 2021 was the third consecutive perfect growing season in Hawkes Bay and has produced very probably the winery’s best ever Coleraine red.

Coleraine 2021 is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc. Each parcel of grapes was picked and vinified separately, then aged in French oak barrels for 17 months, before being blended. After blending, the finished wine was matured for a further year in barrel before bottling.

Deep crimson in colour, a complex array of aromas leap from the glass – wild blackberry, blackcurrant, thyme and cedar – all interwoven with the signature Coleraine perfume of fresh roses.
The palate precisely balances richness with vibrant energy; modern and varietally expressive, with cassis, raspberry, mocha, spice, and a distinctive minerality that is unique to the 2021 vintage. Succulent ripe fruit flavours cloak the firm, chiselled tannins and give a very long finish. With perfume, power, finesse, and length this is an absolute classic and a celebration of the very best of New Zealand wine!

Winemaker’s tip:- serve with barbecued beef.

“The Te Mata Hawke’s Bay Coleraine 2021 is a terrific young wine with superb depth and complexity as well as just the right amount of muscular tannins to give length and structure for the long term. Yet the polished texture makes it so attractive now. Is it one of the best Coleraines ever?” 98pts James Suckling

“The 2021 Coleraine is a superstar. It’s the best I recall seeing on release in recent years, a total “pleasure-dome” situation. Tea tree, oyster shell, lavender, black tea and tobacco leaf burst from the glass. Seamless, polished tannins grace the palate. There is texturally more silk to the tannins here than the Awatea tasted beside this (another great wine, for what it’s worth). There are notes of creamy red fruits, cassis and bramble, Asian five spice, black cherry and graphite/mineral skein. The persistence of flavor here is extraordinary; it’s detailed and nuanced but insistent in the mouth. The tannins cup the fruit in the mouth. This is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Merlot and 12% Cabernet Franc. 2021 was left in barrel a little longer than the 2020 to refine the tannins. I buy this every year, regardless of conditions, and this year I am very smug about that!” 98/100pts The Wine Advocate