Te Mata: the world’s best Bordeaux blend

2010 Te Mata, Coleraine Merlot Cabernet Sauvignon, Hawke's Bay, New Zealand (£49.95, Berry Bros & Rudd, 0800-280 2440; £48.97, vintagemarque.com).

I tasted the Te Mata range the other day with owner and force of nature Nick Buck. This is a very important estate in New Zealand. It champions the great red wine terroir of Hawke's Bay.

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This wine is the beating heart of Hawke's Bay in vinous form. Glossy, ebullient, mouth-coating and lusty, it has incredible allure, and an added degree of finesse and complexity that really makes the palate concentrate.

It's not just one of New Zealand's greatest Bordeaux blends (I happen to think it is the best), but one of the world's elite versions.

Interestingly, in 2011, a much more difficult vintage, Coleraine isn't sinewy and lean as you might expect, but aromatic and pretty this shows that Te Mata is, admirably, working closely with the rhythms of the seasons and not trying to buck the trend.

Watch out for Coleraine's fascinating siblings, too, both from Berry Bros & Rudd 2010 Bullnose Syrah (£33.00) and 2012 Elston Chardonnay (£28.95).

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (www.matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006.

He has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website.

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy. His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.