Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2023 13.5% 750ML

Te Mata Coleraine Cabernet Merlot 2023 13.5% 750ML

Tasting Notes

Appearance
A regal, brilliant magenta hue.

Palate
Raspberry, white flowers, soy, and espresso, arise on driftwood smoke, creating a fresh, elevated, coastal sensation, in an intense, tannin-rich, sculptured wine that’s captivating and irresistibly endless. This is Coleraine essence – a majestic statement of a place, a time, and a lineage.

Range notes
Coleraine derives its name from the Coleraine vineyard, home of John and Wendy Buck of Te Mata Estate. John’s late grandfather was born in Coleraine in Northern Ireland and the name has been maintained through the family home to the wine. A single vineyard wine until 1989, Coleraine is an assemblage of the finest wines produced from distinct plots within Te Mata Estate’s oldest vineyards first planted in 1892.

Vintage notes
Each parcel of grapes was destemmed before a traditional warm-plunged fermentation and extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were then run to predominately new French oak barrels for 17 months’ maturation. Throughout this time, they were regularly topped and racked. The assemblage was made in October 2023 and the finished wine was bottled in December 2024.

Grape variety
Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot

Country: New Zealand
Region: Hawke's Bay
Vintage: 2023
Variety: Cabernet & Cabernet Blends
Alcohol volume: 13.5
Closure: Cork
Volume: 750
Weight : 1.33kg
Wine style: Red (Full Bodied)

Reviews:

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker Wine Advocate - 98 Pts

This cuvée is a selection of the best from each vintage. In 2023, the strongest performer was the Cabernet Sauvignon. The elevation in all aspects of this wine from the already tremendously impressive awatea is significant. With raspberry, iodine, crushed shells, nori, pressed flowers, new lead pencil, tobacco, bramble and cassis, it is magnificent.

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com - 97 Pts

This really changes in the glass with blackcurrants, kelp, umami, graphite, fresh mushrooms and roses. Iodine and lemon rind as well. Extremely expressive. It’s medium-bodied with lovely finesse and fine, caressing tannins that are very long in the finish. Firm yet open-grained tannins. Needs time to come together but already a beauty. 80% cabernet sauvignon, 15% merlot and 5% cabernet franc. Best after 2028.

Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 Pts

Deep, bright red-purple colour; bell-clear cassis aromas of cabernet come rocketing through on the bouquet. There are charred-leaf and tobacco side-notes from the franc and merlot, too. The meaty, tobaccoey merlot makes its presence felt more on the palate which is rich and rounded, supple and fleshy, with plenty of fine-grained tannin but no sign of astringency. This seems a shade rounder and more up-front than usual for Coleraine. (Cabernet sauvignon, merlot & cabernet franc).

Gary Walsh, The Wine Front - 95 Pts

I have tasted every vintage of Coleraine ever made. This wine puts me in mind of the 2021. Blackcurrant, essence of cabernet thing here, dried herbs (thyme) and nori, tobacco, pencil, liquorice/aniseed…with a very long finish. Wonderful perfume. I'm spending a lot of time thinking about this wine, about where it will go, and where it sits in the pantheon of Te Mata Coleraine, and the upshot is, 'up.' 95+