Te Mata Estate Coleraine 2020

A gleaming, obsidian-dark Coleraine ’20 flashes in the glass. Its depths glimmer with wild roses and cedar, blackcurrants, dark cherries and plums—a rapid symmetry of perfectly ripe, dark fruit. Notes of cocoa-nib, thyme, and layer upon layer of fine tannin are polished to a mirror finish, shimmering the length of the wine.

Replete in detail. Out of darkness emerges an immense wine of clarity, concentration and focus. Coleraine 2020 is a perfect vision.

Coleraine is an assemblage of the finest wines produced from distinct plots within Te Mata Estate’s oldest Havelock Hills vineyards first planted in 1892.

Coleraine ’20 was hand harvested from separate plots within Te Mata’s vineyards between 19 March and 2 April 2020.

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 January 2021 and the finished wine was bottled in December 2021. The final blend is 57% cabernet sauvignon, 36% merlot and 7% cabernet franc.