Te Mata Estate Te Mata Awatea 2022 750ml

The 2021 Awatea Cabernets Merlot is dusty and chalky aromatically, with lavender and crushed rocks, pouch tobacco and a sheet or two of nori. The wine feels fleshy despite that, and this brings a pleasurable see-saw of savory and succulent. This is an excellent wine and perfumed to the extreme.

This is an excellent bottling of Awatea, the younger brother of Te Mata’s top red, Coleraine. From a long, warm growing season, this feels like a complete wine. Winter warming notes of plump plums, dark cherries and chocolate are complemented by a bounty of dried herbs, spices and graphite. The palate is similarly dense and structured but with elegance and balance. Tannins are powdery and fine, winding through dark, tangy fruit and herbs. Like many of Te Mata’s wines, it has an old school Bordeaux vibe that will appeal more to some than to others. (Christina Pickard)

There’s a very attractive, cedary edge to this with red cherries, redcurrants and blueberries, as well as darker plum and cocoa notes. The palate is so composed and fresh and has a vivid, detailed and neatly layered feel. Drinks well now, as it will for the next six to eight years. (James Suckling)

Aromas of fresh flower stems and green leaves. Fresh bark, too. Roses. Graphite. Medium-bodied with tight and linear tannins and a focused and refined finish. Slightly chewy. Juicy. 50% cabernet sauvignon, 36% merlot and 14% cabernet franc. Drinkable, but needs two or three years.

A blend of 48% Cabernet Sauvignon, 37% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc, the 2018 Awatea Cabernets-Merlot is a bit leafy on the nose, with herbal, tobacco-tinged aromas accenting cassis and black cherries. It’s medium to full-bodied and supple on the palate, finishing long, silky and mouthwatering.

The 2022 Awatea has a hard act to follow after three stellar vintages, and it's certainly not as dense nor impressive. It does provide a more classical example. Aromatically, it's very attractive with classic Bordeaux blend aromas of blackcurrant, plum, blackcurrant leaf, balsamic and spices of oak and pencil lead. It's a mid-weight, more restrained style with a moderate, finely textured tannin and a sense of old-world dark chocolate bitterness, which is a nice twist.<br/><br/>