Te Mata: the world’s best Bordeaux blend

This is one of the world's best versions of a very French blend, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
By
published
in Features

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.

They have been making statesman-like wines for aeons, but have recently added detail, style and breeding to their rich and forceful offerings, making them more than MoneyWeek-worthy.

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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
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. 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, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

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.

 

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