A New Zealand Wine Legend
Back in the 1890s, the seeds were sown for what would become one of the world’s most respected wine estates and New Zealand’s oldest. In fact, the independently owned, family-run, Te Mata Estate still uses the same vineyards today.
And for good reason, for well over 100 years they have been producing gold medals globally, which has led to these sites becoming protected because of their history.
Today the Estate comprises 47 parcels of land across four vineyard sites within Hawke’s Bay. Each parcel has subtle differences in aspect, climate and soil types, including clay, limestone, loess, sandstone hills, red metal gravel, and alluvial river terraces.
US wine critic, James Suckling, listed recent vintages of Te Mata Coleraine and Te Mata Bullnose in his Top 50 Wines of the World, and last year, Decanter magazine profiled Coleraine ’98 as one of its “Wine Legends,” describing it as “the most avidly collected of New Zealand red wines”—making it the first ever New Zealand wine to achieve this accolade.
Te Mata is so connected with the Hawke’s Bay region that the Estate has become a tourist destination in its own right. Being surrounded by the land from where the wine is produced from is a wonderful way to enjoy it. All Te Mata grapes are grown and hand harvested on the estate, under the direct control of the onsite winemakers, and the wines are entirely made and bottled in the original 1890s buildings.
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