House of Pania's whanau visit to Te Mata Estate 3/3/25
The Home of the Big Reds
Bernard and I (the House of Pania pool boy) had agreed we would follow up earlier cellar door visits by going to Te Mata Estate Winery, and the recent release of Coleraine and other of their 2023 wines prompted today's visit.
It was also the day Jeannie and I would look after granddaughter, Freya the baby, whose second birthday it was and who will now be called 'Freya the toddler'. Erik the miniature dachshund came along too. Here is Freya discovering the pond outside the cellar door entrance.
Te Mata has long held the reputation as the producer of New Zealand's best red wines, especially for its flagship Coleraine.
In 2017 it's 1998 Coleraine was named a "Wine Legend" by top wine magazine Decanter, the only New Zealand wine to have achieved that worldwide status. To understand the significance of that naming here are three previously named Legends - Ch Haut-Brion '29, Ch Lafitte-Rothschild '59, and Domaine de la Romanee-Conti '78.
One review writer tasted a 1998 earlier this year and gave the wine 97 points, despite more than 25 years in the bottle. To foreshadow what Bernard and I experienced when tasting 2023 here is part of what the reviewer said:
'...the fruit still sings ripely through the palate. Cabernet takes the lead, with black currant and graphite, then the middle fills with ripe plummy Merlot, and the smokey Franc gives a touch of character and incense. Tannin is fine and elegant, beautifully integrated.'
The Tasting
First, with respect to the offered tasting of 5 current releases, Bernard said of the Elston Chardonnay, that it needed 2-3 more years in the bottle. Next was a Gamy Noir, which I have not come across before. It smelt of sweet cherries, was unpretentious and a good choice for a picnic. Neither of us liked the Estate Syrah which probably needs the 4 years of cellaring Te Mata recommends.
All the while we were getting very good inputs and comments from Vince Labat who is Sales and Marketing Director and has been with Te Mata for 4 years. He knows a thing or two! Once I got the name right we agreed that Gassac was a wonderful Languedoc winery. He knew it, and Ch Figeac which is no surprise given it is one of the two Premier Grand Crus in St Emillion made from the same varietals as Coleraine.
Before our tasting of the Coleraine we first tasted the Awatea 2023, Coleraine's not so little brother distinguished from it, says Te Mata, because Coleraine is a more structured wine. We know that they share at least some of the same grapes and terroir. Bernard says that Awatea is so good most red wine drinkers would be hard- pressed to tell the difference.
Awatea was immediately impressive on the nose - full and vibrant, and I am guessing that early on Merlot and Franc are doing some of the heavy lifting with the Cabernet to emerge in due course. It tasted like that too, with tannins quiet and inviting early drinking, consistent with Te Mata's rather stern advice that 'Awatea is approachable two years from harvest...'. We drank a very nice 2019 last week of which Te Mata says , with the bottle lying down, that it is 'Youthful,will evolve with age'. Ours was at least a 20 years old youth so not too soon to drink!
Then Vince added the 2023 Coleraine to the tasting, and what a privilege that turned out to be. It shouts SERIOUS WINE on the nose and in the glass, a more refined and subtle wine than Awatea. Reviewers were mostly positive, some saying it was stunning, others praising its complexity texture and balance. I liked 'engaging and captivating' and 'A wine of meticulous precision and undeniable sophistication'. A fair AI summary I thought. The human reviewers, who no doubt know their stuff, lost me when describing what they find in the wine by reference to fruit, leather, smoke, and earth, amongst other things. Yes, I can detect the idea of those things in wine sometimes, but never all of them.
There is more Cabernet in the Coleraine than I expected - 80% compared to Merlot 15% and Franc 5%. That says a lot about the vintage and how hot and sunny it was, and for how long the rest of summer was, after Cyclone Gabrielle had visited Hawkes Bay, making the Cabernet better and better. Dare I say it, more like a Bordeaux Cabernet. The winemakers will know for sure.
Bravo Te Mata!
I bought 2 Awatea and 1 Coleraine the price of which I cannot write down in case Jeannie finds out. I used her card too.
Freya liked the goldfish. Erik was asked to leave.
#hawkesbaywine