Te Mata Estate Awatea Merlot/Cabernets 2018 Hawke's Bay

"Dark and bright, Awatea Cabernets-Merlot 2018 is an inky purple with an electric crimson edge. From a warm and dry vintage, Awatea 2018 shows ripe blackberry and blackcurrant aromatics with elements of vanilla creme and sandalwood. On the palate there's a banquet of plum, raspberry, dried herbs and lingering dark cherry, set out across cedar and cocoa powder tannins. Classical in structure, with fine balance and length, Awatea Cabernets-Merlot 2018 is resplendent in its purity and detail."  Te Mata Estate

This delicious blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc is classically structured with fine balance and long length. Beautifully pure, perfectly matured and uniquely "Hawke's Bay" in style.

Hawkes Bay is a beautiful region in the east of the North Island with some of the most beautiful Pacific Ocean coastline in the world. Sunny and warm, it lies at the same latitude to the south as Valencia or North Sonoma in California to the north, namely 39 degrees. The steady, light wind from the west ensures cool temperatures in summer and gives the grapes an extremely long, slow growing season, which in turn produces an impressive intensity of flavour and balance in the grapes.

The soils in Hawkes Bay consist of gravel, sand and silt; all left behind when the three main rivers changed course over the millennia. This gives the vines perfect natural drainage, similar to the gravelly soils of Bordeaux's Medoc.

First made in 1982, Awatea is generally seen as the second wine to Te Mata’s flagship Bordeaux blend, Coleraine. The grapes for this wine are hand harvested and destemmed before a traditional warm, plunged fermentation with extended maceration on the skins to gain tannins, colour and structure. The resulting wines are then aged for 16 months in seasoned French oak barrels, blended, then returned to barrel for a further 8 months’ oak maturation.

Winemaker’s tip: serve with leg of lamb provençal.