TE MATA ZARA VIOGNIER 2019

After 24 vintages Te Mata have learnt how to produce a benchmark wine. Fermented and aged in mainly older oak – 1 new barrel used – with some barrel stirring. The trick with Viognier is to get the balance of alcohol and phenolics right – too many taste ‘hot’ and bitter. Not the Zara. It bursts with floral, peach, fennel flavours. Full but fresh on the palate. We can’t recall a better release.

Winery notes (2019 Vintage)
"The soft citrine of Zara Viognier ’19 belies its intensely aromatic nature. Floral and fruit notes of orange blossom, apricot, rose and peach, blend with complexing hints of fennel, cashew and barrel char. The luscious palate delivers a finely balanced acidity that extends the wine all the way through its long, salivating, saline finish. Highly refined in both interest and complexity, Zara Viognier ’19 is unashamedly delicious."

Reviews for previous vintages below…

5 Stars & 95/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, February 2019 (2018 Vintage)​​​​
"This is outstanding. Gorgeously fruited and fragrant, the wine shows ripe apricot, rockmelon, thyme and floral characters, leading to a concentrated palate that is wonderfully weighted and expansive. It is elegantly opulent and varietally expressive with rich texture and bright acidity, leading to a lingering delicious finish. At its best: now to 2025."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2018 Vintage)
"This estate-grown wine is from Woodthorpe Terraces, on the south side of the Dartmoor Valley in Hawke's Bay. Hand-picked, it is partly fermented and lees-aged in seasoned French oak barrels. This seductively soft wine is from a classic grape of the Rhone Valley. Fragrant and fleshy, it has deep, ripe stone fruit flavours, barrel-ferment complexity and a dry, lastings finish."

Sue Courtney, wineoftheweek.com (2016 Vintage)
"​This is a lustrous citrine hue and the bouquet offers haunting scents of apricot, mango and tropical fruit that is ripe, bright and sweet to the taste. It’s lightly oily in texture with musky spices and a touch of white pepper while the use of neutral oak adds palate weight and a harmonious complexity but only the most subtle oak taste."

94/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, October 2017 (2016 Vintage)
"Great smelling wine here with ginger and spices, jasmine and rosewater, fresh apricot and white peach. Turns distinctly savoury in the mouth, with cheesy solids and a little struck match complexity, though the verity of fruit is not compromised. Fine bright acidity keeps it trim, and perfume and spice trails on a long finish. Tasting it made me sit up a little straighter, not least given it’s a Viognier. Very very good."