Te Mata Awatea Cabernet Merlot 2007
Te Mata Estate Coleraine is arguably New Zealand’s greatest red wine. Certainly, it’s been produced for a long time, 26 vintages, and has been at or near the totem most of that time. These days it could be argued that pinot noir is NZ’s most successful red variety. But Te Mata Estate Coleraine was the fi rst Kiwi cabernet blend to rock the world, which it did from its fi rst vintage, 1982. It was based on a single vineyard surrounding owner John Buck’s house in the Hawkes Bay region.
I will never forget tasting the ’82, at a Sydney shop The Oak Barrel, when it was released in the early ‘80s. I’d never tasted a half-decent Kiwi red wine till then (pinot noir being a good decade away), and I was gobsmacked.
Te Mata’s second-string red is called Awatea. Both are blends of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. The price of both has escalated, although Awatea is still aff ordable at $42 to $45 (Coleraine is $81 to $88). The 2007 vintages of both wines are superb. Coleraine is more heavily oaked and more tannic: deeper, tighter and built to age longer. A great wine without doubt, although you need to cellar it at least fi ve years, preferably 10 to 15, to get your full pay-off .
You expect a mind-bending wine with Coleraine. But the ’07 Awatea is the more startling, because it’s probably the best Awatea yet – certainly the best I can recall. It is more accessible, less tannic, more fruit driven and full of charm, especially if you give it some air. Very good concentration, soft tannins, moderate oak and, like Coleraine, superbly ripe fruit fl avours in the dark-berry spectrum, without any herbaceousness. I’d expect it to also cellar 15years. Huon Hooke, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Weekend Saturday 20th June 2009
Te Mata Estate’s 2007 reds are indeed intensely concentrated yet still demonstrate restraint in their power and style. Te Mata Estate’s top tier reds, Bullnose Syrah, Awatea and Coleraine, all exhibit superbly ripe fruit notes together with perfect harmony and balance. They are lovely to taste now but will cellar for many years developing spectacular complexity. SAM KIM YOUR WEEKEND Magazine, Dominion Post, 28 March 2009
The grapes for Awatea ‘07 were hand-harvested from their separate plots within Te Mata Estate’s vineyards between 28 March and 24 April 2007. The grapes were destemmed before undergoing a traditional warm, plunged fermentation with extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were run into a mixture of new and seasoned barrels for 20 months’ maturation. Throughout this time, the barrels were regularly topped and racked. The separate wines were blended in January 2008, then egg white fined during their second winter. The finished wine was bottled in January 2009.
Awatea ‘07 has a deep magenta colour with aromas and flavours of ripe blackberry, wild strawberry and black plum with notes of vanilla, dark chocolate and thyme. The palate is rich with very fine grained tannins supporting the ripe fruit flavours right through to the long finish.
Awatea ‘07 is a blend of 40% cabernet sauvignon, 17% cabernet franc, 38% merlot and 5% petit verdot. It will continue to evolve in bottle for ten years from harvest and partners savoury red meat dishes and hard cheeses.
Awatea takes its name from the legendary ship SS Awatea (a Maori word meaning "Eye of the Dawn") that sailed the Auckland – Sydney – Wellington route in the late 1930’s. The Awatea was requisitioned as a troop transport in WWII and was sunk off Algeria in 1942.
The vineyard is named Awatea as it is owned by the Austen-Smith family who had connections to both the Union Shipping Company and the NZ Shipping Company. An earlier branch of the family had purchased various fittings that were stripped from the Awatea when it was requisitioned as a troop carrier in WW2. The following generation named the vineyard Awatea to maintain the family connection to the ship; Te Mata Estate and the Austen-Smith family asked the Union Shipping Company permission to use the ships name and image on the wine in recognition of this link between the wine, the vineyard, the family and their connection to the SS Awatea.
First made in 1982, and originally a single vineyard wine, Awatea is now produced from over thirty separate cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc and petit verdot wines made from Te Mata Estate's nine Hawke's Bay vineyards. When Awatea is well cellared it develops and intensifies in bottle for 8-12 years from harvest.
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