Tasting Notes 2005
Awatea ‘05 is a deep ruby colour with aromas and flavours of blackberry, dark cherry, cedar and cinnamon. The palate is fine and even with firm ripe tannins providing great length and structure through to an elegant finish.
Awatea ‘05 is a blend of 35% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Cabernet Franc, 43% Merlot and 4% Petit Verdot. It will continue to evolve in bottle for ten years from harvest and partners savoury red meat dishes and hard cheeses.
Technical Analysis
pH: 3.54
Total acidity as tartaric: 5.9g/l
Alcohol: 13.5%
Residual sugar: Dry
Winemaking
The separate parcels of grapes were destemmed before a traditional warm, plunged fermentation and extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were then run into a mixture of new and seasoned barrels for 20 months’ ageing. Throughout this time they were regularly topped and racked. The separate wines were blended in January 2006 then egg white fined during the second winter in barrel. The finished wine was then bottled in January 2007.
Vineyards
Awatea ‘05 was hand harvested from Te Mata Estate’s own vineyards between 7 and 20 April 2005.
Origin
Awatea takes its name from the legendary ship SS Awatea (a Maori word meaning ‘Eye of the Dawn’) that sailed the Auckland - Sydney - Wellington route in the late 1930’s. The Awatea was requisitioned as a troop transport in WWII and was sunk off Algeria in 1942.
Awatea '05 - 'Offers an earthy / gamey nose with some cardamom, clove and black olives plus touches of leather, sandalwood and spice box over a core of black cherry and warm cassis. Medium-full bodied with just enough flesh, it has ample chewy tannins, refreshing acid and a long finish.' 92 pointsLisa Perrotti-Brown, Robert Parker Wine Advocate, October 2011 All Reviews
