2024 Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot, Hawkes Bay

This is a masterpiece, much like a great work of art. The bouquet shows cassis, dark plum, bouquet garni, baking spice, rich floral, and cedar characters. It’s concentrated with exceptional depth and mouth-coating texture, wonderfully framed by finely polished tannins. It’s perfectly proportioned and gracefully powerful, combining scintillating fruit purity with seductive complexity. The wine flows seamlessly to a persistent, structured finish. $175.00.

100 points Sam Kim wineorbit.co.nz

Superlative balance. Aromas of blackberries, currants, blueberries, graphite and dark tobacco with hints of bark, violets and licorice. Medium-bodied with ultra-fine velvety tannins and a seamless, cashmere texture. so caressing and polished. Bright and vivid at the end.

98 points jamessuckling.com

This is 58% Cabernet Sauvignon, 31% Merlot and 11% Cabernet Franc. 55% new oak. This vintage puts me in mind of the mighty 2020; that sort of depth and concentration, though it has some of the acid cut of 2021 in the mix too. Winemaker Phil Brodie says 2024 was a dry vintage, and warm too, with small bunches and lower crop levels. Said it could have gone too ripe, but they walked through the vineyards on a daily basis, tasting and testing, and they picked it when they thought it was just right. When I think about NZ wine, at the top of the tree, I have Kumeu for Chardonnay, Bilancia for Shiraz (and sometimes Chardonnay!), and Te Mata for Cabernet. A trio of meticulous producers who regularly deliver that little bit extra. The one percenters, if you like.
 
Deep dark wine, black and red fruit, chocolate and ironstone, some creamy and spicy cedar oak, dried flowers, a light minty perfume, slight roasted red capsicum and pimento. It’s medium to full-bodied, crisp ‘mineral’ acidity, lavish graphite tannin, tobacco and nori, a fresh blackberry nip to it, brooding and ferrous, with a firm and savoury finish of superb length. An exceptional wine. It will keep, probably, for as long as you want to keep it, if you can keep your hands off it, that is

97+ points Gary Walsh winefront.com.au

Coleraine is Te Mata Estate’s flagship and one of New Zealand’s most revered reds, first released in 1982 and named after the Coleraine vineyard site that anchors the blend. Te Mata was established in 1896 and remains family owned, with the Buck and Morris families continuing a long tradition of estate farming. Winemaker Phil Brodie has shaped Coleraine into a wine of international stature, guided by a philosophy of precision viticulture, low yields and patient maturation. The fruit is drawn primarily from the Gimblett Gravels and surrounding Hawke’s Bay sites, where free draining soils and warm days tempered by cool nights create ideal conditions for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

The blend is typically led by Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot adding plushness and structure, and often a small portion of Cabernet Franc for aromatic lift. Fermentation is carefully managed to extract fine tannin and depth, followed by maturation in French oak to build complexity without overshadowing the vineyard. The aim is balance and longevity, crafting a wine that speaks of place rather than winemaking.

Deep crimson in colour, the aromas open with blackcurrant, dark cherry and plum layered with cedar, tobacco and dried herbs. The palate is full bodied and finely structured, with cassis driven fruit wrapped in firm, polished tannins and bright acidity. Flavours of black fruit, graphite and savoury spice extend into a long, persistent finish that tightens with elegance.

It pairs beautifully with roast lamb, beef and richly savoury dishes. While impressive now with careful decanting, it will cellar confidently for twenty years or more, developing earthy, leathery complexity.

This is Hawke’s Bay Bordeaux style at its benchmark level, structured, refined and built for the long haul.