Te Mata Estate Coleraine 2021

Te Mata Estate Coleraine 2021.

Interesting moment. I picked up a glass of cabernet at the Cape Mentelle International Cabernet tasting last week and wrote the words “mace, white pepper, capsicum and a fine mash of dried leaves”. The wine was served blind and I made no mental attempt at guessing the wine’s identity, or birthplace, at the time. But mace and white pepper on the nose of a cabernet sauvignon; the wine or at least its region was fluttering its eyelids at me furiously.

Needless to say, when the wine’s identity was revealed, it was from Hawke’s Bay in New Zealand, a region famous for the white pepper notes commonly found on its syrah. This wine though did not contain any shiraz/syrah and instead was composed of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and cabernet franc. It was Te Mata Estate Coleraine 2021.

My note continued: “Highly fragrant, highly leafy, but not green leaf and not tomato bush. This wine is defined both by what it is and by what it’s not. Palate is long, tense, loaded with herbs and spice notes, its footsteps have a crackle. It’s obviously a cooler, leafier, more peppery style but the long tense light-footed length of this is exceptional, as too is the purity of its blue-red-berried fruits. This wine has its own deck, its own cards, and its own rules, but the end result remains classic.”

Not much I want to add. This wine is a regional statement – of its place – as much or more than it is a varietal one. It’s the holy grail.

Gary Walsh reviewed this wine on The Winefront back in December 2022. He nailed it.