Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2021 - Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

100/100 Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
98/100 James Suckling
98/100 Bob Campbell, The Real
97/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
97/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review
92/100 CellarTracker

98/100 The Wine Front (2020 vintage)
98/100 Bob Campbell, The Real Review (2020 vintage)
97/100 James Suckling (2020 vintage)
97/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2020 vintage)
Bronze - CellarTracker (2020 vintage)
98/100 Bob Campbell, The Real Review (2019 vintage)
97/100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate (2019 vintage)
93/100 CellarTracker (2019 vintage)

Te Mata Estate is regarded as one of New Zealand’s most important wine producers

Coleraine is Te Mata's most acclaimed wine and is often regarded as New Zealand's best red wine

Sam Kim, Wine Orbit "This 2021 Coleraine is undeniably THE GOAT of New Zealand wine....This exhibits a commanding presence and majestic poise. The bouquet reveals classic aromas of cassis, dark plum and violet with whispering nuances of cedar and cigar. There are hints of warm spices, compounding the pleasure upon inhalation. The palate is bold and graceful at once, enhanced by plush texture and multi-layered mouthfeel, beautifully framed by refreshing acidity and fine chalky tannins. Robust and substantial with a great line and length, which seem to go on to infinity. This youthful wine is already impossible to resist, but time will reward those who can wait. In sports, they often talk about ‘The Greatest of All Time’, or ‘The GOAT’."

James Suckling "Redcurrant and creme de cassis aromas. Roses. So aromatic. Stones. Oyster and mussel shell. Ink pot. Lead pencil shavings. Full-bodied but very tight and focused. Linear and long with fine, powdery and chewy tannins. Crushed velvet texture."

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Very impressive Coleraine, possibly the best I have yet tasted. Quite Bordeaux-like with impressive density and complexity. Richly textured wine that is obviously youthful but easy to appreciate. Cassis, dark chocolate, vanilla, liquorice, mixed spice and anise are some of the more obvious flavours. Destined to become a classic."

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front "Dark and intense, lots of perfume, red and black fruits, tobacco, a leafy pop that’s pure varietal class, creamy oak, lead pencils, aniseed and spice. Medium to full-bodied, a flood of flavour, super ‘mineral’ feel to the acidity, tannin is superb, and the finish is so long. Light but so dense. There’s a fresh raspberry juiciness here too, and an extra dimension of tension and energy. All the graphite and presence. Incredible wine."

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "Very deep bright purple colour; the bouquet shows similar mulberry, blackcurrant and raspberry fruit aromas as the Awatea but the wine is more concentrated all-round and shows a little more oak (65% new). There are violet notes and a sprinkle of spices including nutmeg too. The tannins are more persuasive and mouth-coating also, and the length is prodigious. A smashing cabernet blend, and a top vintage for this wine."

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "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." (2020 vintage)

James Suckling "A beautiful nose of graphite, blackcurrant, crushed stone, blackberry, bark and sage. Medium- to full-bodied with velvety, structured tannins. Linear onto a wide open palate with so much clarity and length. Mineral complexity sits underneath the wonderfully ripened black fruit giving definition and dynamics. Steady acidity. Fresh herbs and black tea. Pine, too. So attractive now." (2020 vintage)

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "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." (2020 vintage)

Bob Campbell, The Real Review "Ripe, cassis and berry flavours with a seasoning of spice. This wine represents elegance on a grand scale and is on one of the best vintage I've tasted. It has plushness and power with great potential." (2019 vintage)

Robert Parker, Wine Advocate "The wine is brooding and textured, with a black heart of berry fruit wrapped by savory spice. It pulses with blackberry, mulberry, black cherry, cassis, brunette tobacco, coal dust, graphite, licorice, star anise and cracked fennel. It's sensational. I love the personality of this vintage. It's black, almost midnight, and extraterrestrial in its expanse, but the thing is, it just tastes so much like Hawke's Bay. It is capacious and spooling and unfurling too, long, excellent and totally on form." (2019 vintage)

World of Fine Wines "Regarded as New Zealand’s most famous red wine...Te Mata Estate’s flagship wine, Coleraine, which isn’t released every year, is keenly reflective of the vintage in which it is made. When it is released, it immediately becomes a collector’s item, with the last four vintages selling out from the winery within weeks." ....In 2018 35-year verticals of Te Mata Estate Coleraine achieved the highest-ever auction price paid for any collection of New Zealand wine.

Decanter Magazine "A Wine Legend"

Raymond Chan "New Zealand's Great Red Wine"

James Sucklin "TOP 50 WINES OF THE WORLD … “New Zealand’s Sassicaia."

Gary Walsh "New Zealand’s Grange equivalent, only Coleraine comes from one place, is much cheaper, and to my tastes, is significantly better and more interesting.”

Andy Howard MW "New Zealand’s First Growth. Many critics consider Coleraine up there with the best Bordeaux blends in the world."

Winemaker “An historically early vintage that was warm and dry produced low crops with tiny berries, creating exceptional wines with fragrance, tension, purity, power, and persistence… these are so appealing, the tricky part will be having the patience to enjoy them at their peak!”

Cabernet sauvignon (52%), merlot (33%) and cabernet franc (15%).
Alcohol:

World of Fine Wine 'Getting to know a legend' "A visit to one of the world’s greatest fine-wine estates should be an integral part of any tour of New Zealand. On the East Coast of New Zealand’s North Island is the independently owned, family-run, Te Mata Estate. Owners and staff still work on vineyards that began growing Cabernet, Chardonnay, and Pinot Noir back in the 1890s, making it the country’s oldest wine estate. Since 1905, this winery has been winning gold medals globally, which led to these sites becoming the country’s first to be protected by law due to their viticultural history....Te Mata Estate wines are currently available in 45 countries and have been presented at some of the world’s top tables— including to President Barrack Obama, President Xi Jinping, and Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee."

Raymond Chan "Te Mata Estate was the standard by which every other wine producer could be judged against, as the full range of styles has always been impeccable. In the earlier days, Hawke’s Bay was the scene of New Zealand’s quality wine, so it was very apt to have Te Mata Estate as the point of reference. Even when other regions developed, and Marlborough grew larger, and other varietals such as Pinot Noir became important, one could understand the state of the New Zealand wine industry by how Te Mata Estate behaved or reacted to influences, whether internal, or international."

Te Mata Estate is regarded as one of New Zealand’s most important wine producers. It is New Zealand's oldest winery, oldest wine estate and has the oldest winery cellars in the country - in continuous operation since 1895. Coleraine is Te Mata's most acclaimed wine and is often regarded as New Zealand's best red wine.

Hawke's Bay is located on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island in and around the cities of Napier, Hastings and Havelock North. This historic region has New Zealand's second-largest wine industry (after Marlborough) and is highly regarded for its red Bordeaux Blend wines. Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Chardonnay are all planted widely across the region. Over the years, the region has won international acclaim for its very high-quality Bordeaux-style reds and full-bodied Chardonnays. Syrah, produced in a classic European style with strong black-pepper flavors, is another grape variety thought to have great potential here.

Cabernet Sauvignon – Merlot wines are made from two of the world's most famous and most widely grown wine grapes. The pair form the foundation of many of the great wines of Bordeaux, where this classic blend (often dubbed "Bordeaux Blend") is thought to have originated. For centuries, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot have been the quintessential Bordeaux wine grapes, but their fame and popularity have now taken them far beyond the banks of the Garonne, Dordogne and Gironde, to the furthest reaches of the wine world.

In California the blend is often labeled as Meritage – providing the producer meets the requirements of the Meritage Alliance. The Australian regions of Coonawarra, Margaret River and Yarra Valley are highly regarded for their unique expressions of the blend. A Bordeaux Blend is any combination of those grape varieties typically used to make the red wines of Bordeaux. Cabernet Sauvignon is widely accepted as a compulsory component of any Bordeaux Blend along with Merlot. In fact, the majority of Bordeaux Blend wines are often made exclusively from a blend of these two varieties. The remaining components are Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Malbec.