TE MATA COLERAINE 2022

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 2022 release of Coleraine has been very much anticipated and continues the run of excellent releases (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), to show the concentration, complexity and elegance we have come to expect. Don't miss out on this one!

Winery notes (2022 Vintage)
"Coleraine ’22 harnesses the energy and complexity of Te Mata cabernet sauvignon, on show at its highest level since the first Coleraine in 1982. The beautiful floral aromas of lavender, violet, plum and blackcurrant, are all in orbit around the wine’s dark savoury core of tightly wound graphite, nori, coffee grounds, vanilla and tobacco. The palate is intensely concentrated, with a superbright tension building freshness and precision as layer upon layer of fine polished tannins give pinpoint detail alongside signature, exacting, levels of finesse. Coleraine ‘22 is a modern reprise of what make’s Coleraine iconic, a wine balancing past and future, heritage and innovation. This is a statement wine, one that lingers both on the palate and in the mind."

5 Stars & 99/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review, January 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"The wine is full bodied and powerful, with a generous serving of fine grained tannins that add length, authority and a drying but supple finish. Tremendous persistence and wonderful structure. A great wine, that will richly reward long-term cellaring."

5 Stars & 98/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, January 2024 (2022 Vintage)
"The ‘King of the Grape’ Cabernet Sauvignon comes to the fore with its flatteringly classy presence. This is captivating and totally seductive on the nose, exhibiting blackcurrant, violet, game, anise, subtle tobacco and cedary oak characters, leading to a powerfully concentrated palate displaying considerable depth and exceptional concentration. Harmonious too, it’s gloriously structured and balanced with a firm grip, yet the tannins are just right and seamlessly infused. Perfectly proportioned, this 2022 has the majestic feel that each previous Coleraine possess. A blend of 84% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Merlot & 3% Cabernet Franc. At its best: 2032 to 2052."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2022 Vintage)
"The notably graceful 2022 vintage has deep, dark, purple-flushed colour. Fragrant and full-bodied, it has concentrated, well-ripened blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, gently seasoned with nutty oak. Complex, savoury and seamless, with highly refined tannins and obvious cellaring potential, it should break into full stride from 2029+."

97+/100 Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, December 2023 (2022 Vintage)
"It is clear to me that the Coleraine from Te Mata is New Zealand’s greatest Cabernet blend—The 2022 Coleraine is laden at this stage with the outrageous attractiveness of youth. I mean, it’s irresistible. There’s raspberry, nori, rose petals, coffee grounds, star anise, salted licorice, sun-dried kelp/nori, warm pine and layers of peppercorns. In the mouth, the wine is so fresh, so alive, with so much energy, but it already is showing the svelte line of this house, this place. With a hint of raw cocoa laced through the finish, I’m sad to push this glass away. It will be the last time that I taste it for a while. A ripper. Excellent."

96/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, December 2023 (2022 Vintage)
"Black fruit, some red, pencil lead, a little aniseed and floral perfume, nori, baking spice, pimento, slight vanilla. Medium-bodied, a fair bit of chew, dark fruit and dark chocolate, porcini mushroom umami, grainy tannin, concentrated and chewy, earthy and ferrous, with a bright line of very ‘mineral’ acidity on a long finish. Excellent, albeit a more Cabernet focussed expression of Coleraine, which marks it out as being different, and on that point such a worthy of addition to the cellar, though of course the wine is outstanding irrespective of that."

96/100 JamesSuckling.com (2022 Vintage)
"A very elegant young Coleraine with lovely aromas of oyster shell, lead pencil, sweet tobacco, black currant and moss. Very perfumed and expressive. Medium-bodied with fine tannins that are polished and energetic with some citrusy acidity underneath. Some dust to the texture. This is the second highest blend of cabernet sauvignon in the history of Coleraine with 84% cabernet."