TE MATA COLERAINE CABERNET SAUVIGNON / MERLOT 2020

"Coleraine 2020 is a perfect vision."
"Unbelievably good. Easily one of the best wines I’ve tasted in the last decade."
"Undeniably spellbinding."
"Sensational… profound."
"Flawless and spellbinding."

Selected for the Fine Wines of New Zealand List

Te Mata is as focused on quality as it is on innovation. When winery owner John made the first vintage of Coleraine in 1982, he opened the eyes of his peers to the potential for making top wine from a blend of Bordeaux varieties in Hawkes Bay. Good wines are now common place, but Coleraine still leads the pack with a style that grows more refined every year.

Considered New Zealand's most famous wine, Hawkes Bay's iconic Te Mata Estate Coleraine is also likely the most collected/collectable wine produced here. This classic blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot red has been made since 1982 and regularly attracts near-perfect ratings. The 2020 release of Coleraine has been very much anticipated and shows the concentration, complexity and elegance we have come to expect.

Winery notes (2020 Vintage)
"A gleaming obsidian-dark, Coleraine ’20 flashes in the glass. From its depths glimmers wild roses and cedar, blackcurrants, dark cherries, plums – a rapid symmetry of perfectly ripe dark fruit. Notes of cocoa-nib, thyme, and layer upon layer of fine tannin are polished to a mirror-finish, shimmering the length of the wine. From its elevated aromatics to its monumental mid-palate weight, intense vitality, and long radiant finish, Coleraine ’20 is a window on midnight. Replete in detail. Out of darkness emerges an immense wine of clarity, concentration and focus. Coleraine 2020 is a perfect vision."

98+/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, November 2021 (2020 Vintage)
"Unbelievably good. Young, but the potential is overwhelmingly potent. Floral, nutty, intense small-berried fruit, cedar, anise and sweet herb. Tight, medium-bodied, so concentrated, but light too, ultra-mineral, fresh, all the gravel and tense cabernet feel, but with perfume unlocked: so flagrant and fragrant. The length is superb. I’m taken aback by the beauty and essence-like nature of this wine. My precious. Easily one of the best wines I’ve tasted in the last decade."

100/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, February 2022 (2020 Vintage)
"This is solidly built yet fine and flawless with cassis, scented floral, olive, cake spice and stylish oak aromas on the nose. The powerfully concentrated palate offers dazzling clarity of fruit purity as well as astonishing complexity, brilliantly structured by perfectly pitched chalky tannins. Beautifully layered with formidable depth and seductive texture, making this rendition of Coleraine undeniably spellbinding. At its best: 2030 to 2050."

5 Stars & 98/100 Bob Campbell MW, The Real Review (2020 Vintage)
"A deeply-tinted, almost inky wine with layers of sumptuous fruit and savoury characters, including cassis, red rose, dark chocolate, hedgerow, anise and nutty oak. A generously proportioned, youthful red that is already surprisingly accessible but promises to age gracefully."

5 Stars & 97/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2020 Vintage)
"Very deep, bold, bright purple/red colour, the aromas similarly impressive for their concentration and vibrancy. The wine is super-concentrated and loaded with drying, savoury tannins that add a smidgin of bitterness that helps cleanse the aftertaste, which is formidably long. A sensational cabernet blend, gorgeously flavoured and perfumed, profound and lingering. It has the intensity and structure to age long-term. The patient will be handsomely rewarded. Sensational."

5 Stars Yvonne Lorkin, January 2022 (2020 Vintage)
"I can’t overstate how monumentally excellent 2020 is. Sublime doesn’t do it justice, but flawless and spellbinding come close."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2020 Vintage)
"Breed, rather than brute power, is the hallmark of Coleraine (correctly pronounced Cole-raine rather than Coler-aine), which since its first vintage in 1982 has carved out an illustrious reputation among New Zealand's claret-style reds. In all vintages since 2007, Cabernet Sauvignon has been the predominant variety. At its best, it is a magical Hawke's Bay wine, with a depth, complexity and subtlety on the level of a top-class Bordeaux. The grapes are grown and hand-picked in the Havelock North hills, in the company's warm, north-facing Buck and 1892 vineyards, and the wine is matured for 16 to 20 months in French oak barriques, predominantly new. The 2020 vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (57 per cent), Merlot (36 per cent) and Cabernet Franc (7 per cent). A wine of rare breed, it is dark and powerful, with bottomless depth of blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, displaying lovely ripeness and complexity, that build to a finely textured, resounding finish. A great wine, it's well worth cellaring, to enjoy over the next two decades."