Blog - Page 2 of 17 - Te Mata Estate

Elston Chardonnay

By Toby Buck
Elston Chardonnay: The White Queen of Te Mata Estate

Elston is a historic New Zealand Chardonnay from Te Mata Estate’s oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vineyard, first planted in 1892 on the limestone and sandstone slopes of Te Mata Peak in Hawke’s Bay.

Recognised by James Suckling as the number one Chardonnay in the world for value, and the fourth wine overall in the world for value, Elston represents the unique combination of place, heritage and craftsmanship that defines Te Mata Estate.

More than 130 years after the first Chardonnay vines were planted, Elston continues to express the character of its landscape: intense Hawke’s Bay sunlight, cooling maritime breezes, ancient marine soils and careful vineyard stewardship.

The oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vineyard in New Zealand

Elston Chardonnay comes primarily from Te Mata Estate’s historic Chardonnay vineyards in the Havelock Hills, surrounding Te Mata Peak.

First planted in 1892, these vineyards represent New Zealand’s oldest continuously producing Chardonnay vineyard. For more than a century, Chardonnay has been cultivated in this landscape and crafted in the same historic Te Mata winery cellars.

The connection between vineyard, place and winery is central to Elston’s identity. It is a wine shaped not only by a grape variety, but by generations of observation, farming and winemaking.

Why is Elston Chardonnay called Elston?

Elston Chardonnay takes its name from Elston Hall in Nottinghamshire, England, where members of the Chambers family, who played a foundational role in Te Mata Estate’s history, were educated as children.

Elston Hall was also the ancestral home of the Darwin family. For the Chambers family, the name carried memories of education, curiosity and learning before their journey first to Australia and later to New Zealand, where they established Te Mata Estate.

The name Elston reflects values that remain central to Te Mata today: knowledge, cultivation, exploration and a long-term relationship with the land.

The White Queen of Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay

Elston Chardonnay is sometimes known as “The White Queen”, a reference to the wine’s characteristic white-fleshed stone fruit flavours: white peach, nectarine and citrus.

Hawke’s Bay’s combination of abundant sunshine and cool maritime influence creates ideal conditions for Chardonnay. The region allows grapes to achieve concentration and ripeness while maintaining freshness, acidity and aromatic lift.

Te Mata’s Chardonnay vineyards sit within approximately five kilometres of the Pacific Ocean, on elevated north-facing slopes that capture cooling sea breezes.

This combination creates a distinctive style of Chardonnay:
- Ripe but not heavy
- Textural but not broad
- Mineral but not austere
- Powerful yet elegant
The geology behind Elston Chardonnay

The character of Elston begins beneath the vines.

Te Mata Peak is one of Hawke’s Bay’s most remarkable geological formations: a tectonically uplifted seabed formed from compressed marine sediments, shells and limestone.

Ancient marine fossils can still be found within these soils, including oyster shells from the seabed that existed millions of years before the first vines were planted.

In exposed areas of the vineyard, the limestone and silica-rich rock is so dense that striking it with a shovel produces a bell-like ring.

The vineyard soils contain a rare combination of:
- Sandy loam topsoil, which provides drainage and supports healthy vine growth
- Sandstone and clay subsoil, combining drainage with water retention and mid-palate generosity
- Limestone and silica-rich layers, creating restriction, mineral intensity and structure
The vines cannot simply drive deep roots downward. Instead, roots spread through cracks and fissures in the rock, naturally restricting vigour and encouraging smaller, more concentrated berries.

The influence of Chardonnay clones

Elston Chardonnay is made from a combination of carefully selected Chardonnay clones, including:
- Mendoza (Wente) clone
- McRae clone
- Burgundy Meursault clone
The combination of these clones, Hawke’s Bay sunlight and the mineral soils of Te Mata Peak contributes to Elston’s distinctive character.

The intensity of sunlight encourages thicker grape skins, creating phenolic texture and flavours often described as:
- White nectarine skin
- Grapefruit pith
- Citrus peel
- Mineral freshness
These qualities are balanced by cool nights and ocean breezes, which preserve acidity and create freshness, length and precision.

A vineyard shaped by restraint

Elston Chardonnay comes from carefully managed vineyards that are naturally low yielding, typically producing around 4–6 tonnes per hectare.

The grapes are entirely hand harvested to preserve quality and protect the delicate balance between concentration and freshness.

The long Hawke’s Bay growing season allows flavours to develop gradually without excessive sugar accumulation. The region’s reliable dry conditions, created partly by its rain-shadow position, allow grapes to ripen slowly and evenly.

The character of Elston Chardonnay in the glass

Elston Chardonnay is recognised for its combination of richness, elegance and persistence.

Typical characteristics include:
- White peach and nectarine
- Citrus zest and grapefruit
- Crème brûlée richness
- Hazelnut and subtle vanilla
- Saline mineral notes
- Fine acidity and long persistence
The defining quality of Elston is its internal tension: the ability to combine generosity with freshness.

It offers the richness expected from Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay while retaining the line, precision and longevity associated with great vineyard sites.

A Chardonnay recognised around the world

Elston Chardonnay has earned international recognition throughout its history.

Te Mata Chardonnay has been served at significant occasions including:
- The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton
- The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee celebrations
- The inauguration of President Barack Obama
The wine has also appeared in popular culture, including a reference in a Rosalind Boone novel.

These moments reflect Elston’s place as both a distinctive expression of New Zealand and a Chardonnay recognised internationally.

A wine of place, history and longevity

For more than 130 years, the Chardonnay vineyards of Te Mata Estate have been shaped by the same essential forces: ancient seabed soils, Hawke’s Bay sunlight, cooling ocean breezes and careful human stewardship.

Elston is not defined by one element alone. Its identity comes from the interaction of geology, climate, vineyard age, grape variety and generations of winemaking knowledge.

Elston Chardonnay captures the character of Te Mata Estate: elegant, expressive and enduring.

A wine with the richness of Hawke’s Bay, the precision of its soils and the history of a place that has been cultivating excellence since 1892.
The Hawke’s Bay Difference

By Toby Buck

The Hawke’s Bay Difference

New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is famous around the world, but there is far more than one expression of the variety.

Marlborough remains the country’s great Sauvignon Blanc heartland, while Hawke’s Bay offers a markedly different interpretation. Here, warmer days, cool nights, strong sunlight and a long maritime growing season create wines with a distinctive combination of ripe fruit, perfume, texture and freshness. The result is Sauvignon Blanc that can be intensely flavoured yet bone dry, with juicy acidity and a generosity of palate that sets it apart.

A different climate for Sauvignon Blanc

The starting point is climate. Hawke’s Bay sits on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, where the Pacific Ocean moderates temperatures and the region’s relatively dry, sunny conditions allow grapes to ripen over a long growing season. Compared with the cooler South Island, Hawke’s Bay gives Sauvignon Blanc more time to develop full flavour maturity before harvest.

That distinction matters because Sauvignon Blanc is unusually responsive to its growing environment. New Zealand research has shown that the aromatic profile of the variety is shaped by vineyard conditions as well as by winemaking. In a study of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, researchers found that sunlight exposure altered the balance of important aroma compounds: naturally exposed fruit was riper, with lower levels of methoxypyrazines, the compounds associated with green capsicum and vegetal aromas.

Hawke’s Bay therefore occupies an interesting position within New Zealand. It has the maritime influence and cool nights necessary to preserve freshness, but warmer days and a longer ripening season encourage a different expression of Sauvignon Blanc. The wines can develop intense tropical and stone-fruit flavours without losing the floral and herbal lift that makes the variety so distinctive.

Sunlight, ripeness and perfume

New Zealand’s position in the Southern Hemisphere also brings exceptionally strong ultraviolet radiation during the growing season. UV exposure is only one part of the viticultural equation, but it is a significant environmental characteristic of New Zealand vineyards. The important point is not that UV somehow creates a particular flavour in isolation, but that Hawke’s Bay combines strong sunlight with warmth, cool nights and a long period of ripening.

That combination encourages Sauvignon Blanc to move beyond the sharper green spectrum of very cool-climate examples. Passionfruit, lychee, guava, ripe citrus, white peach, yellow currant and other tropical and orchard-fruit characters can sit alongside grass, coriander, dill and fresh herbs. The herbal character is still unmistakably Sauvignon Blanc, but it can feel more aromatic and savoury than aggressively vegetal.

There is growing scientific evidence that New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is not a single chemically uniform style. A 2025 study published in Food Chemistry examined 50 commercially produced Sauvignon Blancs from Hawke’s Bay, Marlborough, Wairarapa and North Canterbury. It found significant differences between regions in the concentrations of several volatile sulfur compounds, providing further evidence that regional expression exists at the level of wine chemistry as well as sensory description.

The character of Hawke’s Bay acidity

Perhaps the most interesting distinction is the way acidity behaves in the finished wine. In the coolest parts of New Zealand, particularly in Marlborough, Sauvignon Blanc can retain exceptionally high natural acidity. This gives the wines their characteristic energy and tension, but can also produce a more linear, sharply refreshing style.

Hawke’s Bay offers another possibility. With greater flavour ripeness, the acidity can feel less like a hard line and more like a current running through the wine. It is juicy, persistent and mouthwatering, particularly towards the back of the palate. The cool nights are important here: they help preserve freshness while the warm days continue to develop flavour.

This distinction is perceptible in blind tasting. Wine Enthusiast’s Christina Pickard described Te Mata’s 2024 Estate Sauvignon Blanc as having “lovely texture” alongside “crisp acidity, flavor concentration and a long finish”. The description is revealing because it puts texture and concentration alongside acidity rather than treating freshness as the opposite of ripeness.

The result is a style that can feel closer in spirit to some European expressions of Sauvignon Blanc, particularly the Loire, while retaining the extraordinary fruit intensity for which New Zealand is known. There is often more mid-palate breadth and a subtle creaminess, but without sacrificing perfume or freshness.

Ripe fruit, completely dry

There is another important consequence of this balance. When Sauvignon Blanc is harvested with sufficient flavour ripeness, it does not need sweetness to compensate for high acidity. A wine can have medium-plus natural acidity, substantial fruit concentration and still finish completely dry.

This is particularly significant in the context of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Te Mata Estate’s 2025 Sauvignon Blanc, for example, was described by Wine Enthusiast as “fermented totally dry”, with the reviewer contrasting it with the small amount of residual sugar found in many Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs. Pickard described the wine as “ripe yet fresh”, with lemony acidity and subtle textural weight.

That bone-dry finish gives the wine a particular kind of precision. The palate begins generously, carries intense fruit and perfume through the middle, then tightens into a clean, dry finish. It is this final crispness that prevents ripe Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc from becoming broad or heavy.

Te Mata Estate Sauvignon Blanc

Te Mata Estate’s Sauvignon Blanc is an expression of this particular Hawke’s Bay balance. The wine is fermented in stainless steel to preserve fruit purity and aromatic character, allowing the vineyard rather than oak to define the style. Its fruit profile can range from passionfruit, guava and citrus through to white peach, green herbs and floral notes.

The style has been recognised repeatedly by international critics. Wine Enthusiast awarded the 2025 Estate Sauvignon Blanc 93 points, describing it as “distinctive” and “lucid”, with ripe tropical-citrus-stone fruit that nevertheless remained fresh. Sam Kim of Wine Orbit similarly described the 2025 wine as “fabulously aromatic”, with nectarine, fresh herbs, lemongrass and lime zest, followed by “excellent vibrancy, fine texture, and bright acidity”.

These descriptions point towards something more interesting than simply calling the wine a “Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc”. They describe a style in which ripeness and freshness are not competing qualities. The fruit is ripe because of Hawke’s Bay’s growing conditions, while the acidity and perfume are preserved by the region’s maritime influence and cool nights.

Cape Crest and the Bordeaux connection

Cape Crest takes this idea considerably further. Te Mata has been making the wine since 1982, using Sauvignon Blanc with small proportions of Sémillon and Sauvignon Gris. The wine is barrel fermented and aged on its lees, giving it a different texture and architecture from a purely stainless-steel Sauvignon Blanc.

Sémillon contributes longevity, while Sauvignon Gris contributes weight and mouthfeel. Lees ageing and batonnage build further texture, while the use of French oak adds complexity without obscuring the variety’s fruit and acidity. The result is a wine with the concentration and aromatic intensity of Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc, but with the structural ambition of a fine white Bordeaux.

Wine Enthusiast’s description of the 2024 Cape Crest is telling. It called the wine capable of “giving white Bordeaux a run for its money”, noting its honeyed richness, creamy texture and “vivid acidity and pithy, lip-smacking refreshment”.

Decanter made the comparison even more explicit when tasting the 2018 vintage. James Button observed that, although the wine was recognisably New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, it was “the intensity that stands it apart”, placing it in a tasting alongside Loire Sauvignon.

Sauvignon Blanc with the capacity to age

This is where Cape Crest moves beyond the conventional idea of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc as a wine intended to be consumed young. The combination of ripe fruit, acidity, oak, lees texture and Sémillon gives the wine the structural components necessary for development in bottle.

With age, the exuberant tropical fruit begins to evolve towards grapefruit, beeswax, citrus, floral and savoury characters. The texture becomes more integrated and the wine’s underlying acidity increasingly apparent. It is still recognisably Sauvignon Blanc, but its expression becomes quieter, more complex and more reminiscent of the great dry white wines of Bordeaux.

Richard Hemming MW made the comparison directly in his 2022 review of Cape Crest, writing that it “aligns with the Bordeaux model of dry, oak-influenced, ageworthy Sauvignon Blanc” and bears comparison with the whites of Pessac-Léognan and Graves.

That is a useful way to understand Cape Crest. It is not an attempt to make Bordeaux in Hawke’s Bay. Rather, it explores what Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc can become when its natural concentration, perfume and acidity are given more texture, time and structure.

The Hawke’s Bay difference

Hawke’s Bay does not need to compete with Marlborough by making a warmer version of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. Its opportunity is more interesting than that. The region’s combination of strong sunlight, warm days, cool nights, maritime influence and long ripening season allows Sauvignon Blanc to occupy a broader stylistic space: ripe but fresh, aromatic but textured, intensely flavoured but bone dry.

That is the Hawke’s Bay difference. The wines retain the perfume, energy and vivid fruit intensity that made New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc famous, but can add another dimension of ripeness, texture and palate length. In Te Mata Estate Sauvignon Blanc, that balance is expressed through fruit purity, juicy acidity and a dry finish. In Cape Crest, it is pushed further towards the structural complexity and longevity of fine white Bordeaux.

Sauvignon Blanc may have made New Zealand famous, but Hawke’s Bay shows how far the variety can travel within the country itself. Here, the combination of sunlight and cool nights, warmth and maritime freshness, fruit intensity and dryness creates a style that is unmistakably New Zealand while being distinctly, and recognisably, Hawke’s Bay.
Lighter Bottles, Bigger Impact

By Sue

For wine producers in Hawke’s Bay, sustainability is no longer an abstract ambition but a practical, daily discipline. At Te Mata Estate, this philosophy has long extended beyond the vineyard into packaging, where decisions about glass bottles carry real environmental weight. For more than fifteen years, the estate has worked with O-I to use recycled glass and progressively lighter bottles, embedding circular thinking into every stage of production.

Glass is uniquely suited to this approach. It is one of the few packaging materials that can be recycled endlessly without loss of quality, forming the basis of a true circular economy. Around 80 percent of recycled glass is remade into new bottles, often within weeks, reducing reliance on raw materials and lowering energy use in manufacturing. Each increase in recycled content directly cuts carbon emissions, making recycled glass not just a symbolic choice but a measurable one.

For a winery exporting roughly half its production to more than 45 countries, weight becomes a critical factor. Traditional heavy glass bottles, once associated with prestige, carry a hidden environmental cost in transport. Lighter bottles reduce shipping weight across every stage of the journey, from Hawke’s Bay to global markets, compounding emissions savings at scale. At Te Mata Estate, where wines are bottled onsite and shipped internationally, these incremental reductions add up to a meaningful impact over time.

The choice of lighter recycled glass also reflects a broader cultural shift within the wine industry. Increasingly, producers are questioning the visual language of weight and excess, recognising that quality resides in the wine itself rather than in heavy packaging. For Te Mata, the move toward lighter bottles is both practical and philosophical: a commitment to authenticity, where presentation aligns with environmental responsibility rather than perceived luxury.

Ultimately, the adoption of recycled, lightweight glass is not a single innovation but part of a continuum of small, deliberate improvements. As Te Mata Estate frames it, sustainability is built through “1% changes” across the entire system, from vineyard practices to packaging choices. In this context, the bottle becomes more than a container. It is a visible expression of stewardship, linking Hawke’s Bay to a global network of consumers while reducing the footprint of every glass poured.
Energy, Systems & Investment

By Sue

At Te Mata, our work begins in the vineyard and continues through the winery to the finished bottle. It is a continuous process, shaped by land, light and season. Increasingly, it is also shaped by the systems that support how we work, including energy, which sits quietly behind every stage of production.

Today, all of our electricity, across both vineyard operations and on-site winemaking, is supplied by Kea Energy. From vineyard activity through to vinification, cellaring, bottling and labelling, every part of our day-to-day operation is connected to this supply.

Kea Energy generates electricity entirely from renewable sources and matches its total generation to customer demand over the course of the year. By sourcing all of our electricity through this system, our work is supported by renewable generation that is grounded in New Zealand conditions and infrastructure.

Electricity, however, does not move through the grid in a way that allows it to be traced directly from source to use. For this reason, the “renewable” attribute of electricity is often separated into certificates, which can be bought and sold independently of the power itself. Many organisations rely on these instruments to make renewable claims, regardless of their direct connection to generation.

Our approach is to stay close to the physical system. We work directly with a New Zealand generator whose portfolio is entirely renewable, supporting both current supply and future development. We are continuing to strengthen the traceability of this relationship over time, but what matters most is the direction: towards an energy model that is grounded, transparent and aligned with how we actually operate.
‘Spend smart. Drink well.’

By Toby Buck

Bob Campbell MW, 22 May 2026

‘Spend smart, drink well.’

There are reasons why some wines fetch what seem to be hefty price tags, writes Bob Campbell, MW

‘I was recently asked, “How much should you pay for a good bottle of wine, and how much is too much?

“Supermarkets are discounting even top wines now; is it worth investing in a top label like Te Mata Coleraine ($149.50 per bottle in a case of six bottles) for example, or are these only for connoisseurs?”

Te Mata Coleraine is a good place to start.

By my estimation 2024 Coleraine deserves its status as one of New Zealand’s most iconic wines, and I haven’t even tasted it!

I have, however, tasted every vintage from the first in 1982 and hope to taste the 2024 vintage within the next few weeks.

Why the lolly scramble when Coleraine is released each year?

Because it made waves, very big waves, when it was first released. It was head and shoulders above whatever ranked second. Coleraine hit the ground running and has barely lost momentum ever since.

It is a wine for connoisseurs, but it is also a wine for investors, collectors and anyone whose pulse beats faster when Coleraine is served.’
A 130-year Connection

By Toby Buck

Te Mata Estate Through Britain’s Fine Wine Merchants

A 130-year connection between Hawke’s Bay and the heart of the world’s wine trade

For more than 130 years, Te Mata Estate has shared a special connection with the United Kingdom. From the earliest exports of Hawke’s Bay wines in the late nineteenth century to today’s thriving network of fine wine merchants, Britain has played an important role in the story of Te Mata. By 1909, Te Mata Estate had already become New Zealand’s largest winery and exporter, establishing an international reputation at a time when New Zealand wine was still largely unknown overseas. This early connection with Britain helped introduce the quality and character of New Zealand wine to a wider world.

Today, Te Mata wines are available through some of the UK’s most respected independent fine wine merchants, including Berry Bros. & Rudd, Jeroboams, Lay & Wheeler, Cru, Bordeaux Index, Fine & Rare and Farr Vintners. These specialists provide access to a growing range of Te Mata wines, from the flagship Coleraine and Awatea Cabernet Merlot to Elston Chardonnay, Bullnose Syrah, Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc and Alma Pinot Noir. Each release reflects the same philosophy that has guided Te Mata for generations: estate-grown fruit, hand harvesting, careful winemaking and a deep connection to the vineyards of Hawke’s Bay.

The continuity of Te Mata is central to its story. The vineyards that established the estate’s reputation more than a century ago continue to produce today’s wines, with all fruit grown on Te Mata Estate, hand picked, vinified and bottled at the historic winery. With one foot in the traditions of the Old World and one foot in the innovation and character of the New, Te Mata has always sought to create wines that belong in the company of the world’s great regions while remaining unmistakably connected to New Zealand. As The Wine Advocate wrote in 2026: “Te Mata has long been one of the great estates in Hawke’s Bay; however, when considered in a national context, the thoughtfulness and applied intellect of the growing and making of wine at this estate make it one of the crowning achievements of New Zealand.”

That reputation continues to grow among international critics and wine lovers. Bob Campbell MW described Te Mata as “New Zealand’s most prestigious wine … nobody dreamed such a wine could be made from New Zealand grapes,” while JancisRobinson.com noted that “consistency of quality and style … have been the hallmarks since day one.” Matthew Jukes called Te Mata “the beating heart of Hawke’s Bay in vinous form,” and Andy Howard MW observed that while Coleraine’s original ambition may have been inspired by the great Cru Classé estates of Bordeaux, “today Coleraine has evolved its own style.” For wine lovers across Britain, this means that discovering Te Mata is easier than ever, through merchants who understand provenance, quality and the enduring relationship between New Zealand and the UK.
2024 The Holy Grail?

By Ashleigh Jamieson

Each vintage is a celebration of time and our terroir. Each one is distinct, each one is shaped by the land, people, and nature. In 2024, we had time to find poise. It was an remarkable harvest, producing beautifully balanced wines with elegance, power and restraint. Deeply thought-provoking wines. It was a vintage that rewarded precision. Each pick, each parcel, each ferment was handled with a jeweller’s attention to detail – a deliberate pursuit of purity.

Vintage 2024

Technical Report from Senior Winemaker Phil Brodie Vintage is, for us, a celebration of the reflection of time and our terroir—each one distinct, each one shaped by the land, people, and nature. In 2024, we had time to find poise. The 2024 was an incredible vintage, producing beautifully balanced wines with precision—powerful yet restrained, and deeply thought-provoking. Wines with a degree of umami, salinity, and acidity to focus the wine, give tension and energy, and sweeten the tannins on the finish. The wines have delivered an amazing sense of place.

Winter – Spring
Early winter was dry, then came some rain, which was needed to replenish our underground water table. Thankfully, we received a beneficial volume of rain in the early part of spring that gave us the ability to recharge our soils and grow a healthy, full canopy. From there on, we received very little in terms of significant rain events, and with a cool, dry, windy flowering period, smaller bunches formed, promoting reduced potential yields. We then began to see blocks experience levels of water stress. Given intimate knowledge and understanding of our soils across the various subregions, we started increasing irrigation to allow the vines to combat heat spikes in late December and January.

Summer – Autumn
December to early February saw rapid heat accumulation with above-average temperatures. There was very little rain over these months, giving clean canopies, clean fruit, controlled vine stress, and very small berries on both whites and reds. These factors, combined with exceptionally low cropping rates, produced an early harvest, starting with some hand-picked Chardonnay for Elston on 26 February with good sugars and balanced acids.

Harvest
Harvesting continued through into April with classical daytime temperatures in very dry conditions, combining with tiny berries to produce significantly lower yields, both in cropping rates and juice yields. As a result, the whites showed great intensity and tension, with wonderful natural acidity, and the reds are deeply coloured with plenty of extract, rich with purity, complexity, and length.

Conclusions – Notes of Significance
• A very dry preceding winter
• Early onset of vine stress monitored by new advanced technology coupled with precision irrigation
• Above-average heat summation (1590 GDD — Growing Degree Days)
• A tapering of warm nights in early February led to retention of acids, contributing to
the wines’ varietal expression, balance, and wonderful length
• Beautiful clean fruit with no disease pressure
• Exceptionally low crops with tiny berries and great concentration
• White wines – acid retention, pure with intense complexity
• Red wines – deeply coloured, complex, and structured

Through the continuous improvements from the formalisation of our winery and vineyard R & D programme, including organic, biodynamic and regenerative practices, new pruning techniques, greater experience with an intimate knowledge of our blocks down to the individual vine, increasing vine age, and attention to detail, all this coupled with such an incredible vintage the wines from 2024 are absolutely stellar.
Can we see The Holy Grail?

Download as PDF here.
AI meets Precision Viticulture

By Toby Buck

The way we understand a vineyard is changing, but not as dramatically as it might seem. Much of the work remains observational – walking rows, tasting fruit, watching the season unfold. What is changing is the level of precision available to support those observations. This season, we’ve been using AI-powered image analysis to refine our yield estimates, photographing grape clusters in the vineyard so that individual berries can be counted and translated into projected bunch weights.

What this process reveals, and confirms, is that variation in yield is driven primarily by the number of berries per bunch rather than by berry size. Berry weight tends to remain relatively stable across seasons, while berry set can shift significantly depending on conditions at flowering. By focusing on berry counts, we gain a more consistent and reliable picture of the crop as it develops, well before harvest decisions are finalised.

This kind of technology is not new to horticulture. In many ways, it represents an early and natural adoption of machine vision – structured environments, repeatable patterns, and a long-standing need for accurate forecasting. What matters is not the presence of the tool, but how it is used. In a vineyard context, it works best as an extension of experience: something that sharpens judgement rather than replaces it.

The connection to wine quality is indirect, but important. More precise yield estimation allows for better-timed picking decisions, more confident parcel selection, and a clearer understanding of how each block should be handled in the winery. These are not dramatic interventions, but incremental ones – small adjustments that accumulate over the course of a season and, ultimately, through élevage.

This is often how quality is built in fine wine. Not through single defining moments, but through a series of marginal gains – decisions made with slightly greater clarity, repeated over time. The use of AI in this context sits comfortably within that tradition. It is simply another way of seeing more clearly, and acting accordingly, so that what arrives in the glass is more balanced, more precise, and more complete.
2026 Cellaring Guide

By Toby Buck

Twice a year we revisit one of the traditions that sits at the heart of what we do at Te Mata Estate: our Cellaring Guide. Updated every six months, the guide is reviewed by our winemaking and management teams and based on tastings from our own stock held in our cellars. These are not theoretical projections. They come from opening bottles that have been quietly ageing in the same conditions we hope many of our wines experience around the world.

Ageing potential has always been central to Te Mata Estate’s philosophy. From the beginning, the aim has been to craft wines that reward patience, wines that evolve, deepen and reveal new layers over time. The Cellaring Guide is our way of sharing what we are seeing as these bottles mature and helping collectors and enthusiasts understand where each wine may currently sit in its life.

In the guide you will see terms such as evolving, plateau and sometimes past peak. These are not strict rules but useful markers. A wine that is evolving is still gaining complexity. Wines on a plateau are often in a wonderful moment of balance and expression. Bottles that are past their peak may still give pleasure, simply in a softer and more fragile form.

As the producer of New Zealand’s most traded wine on the secondary market, we know many Te Mata Estate bottles spend years, sometimes decades, resting in cellars before they are opened. This guide reflects how we believe the wines perform under ideal cellaring conditions and we hope it helps you decide when to reach for a bottle.

Most importantly, the Cellaring Guide is an invitation. Have a look through your own cellar, see where your bottles might sit and perhaps pull one that is ready to enjoy. The point of cellaring wine, after all, is not simply to wait, but to open it at the right moment and share it.

Screenshot
Four Decades of Magic

By Toby Buck

Awatea Cabernets/Merlot

Four Decades of Cabernet Magic

There are wines that introduce a region, and there are wines that define one. Since its first vintage in 1982, Te Mata Estate’s Awatea Cabernet Merlot has played a special role in showing the world what Hawke’s Bay can achieve with Bordeaux varieties. Elegant, complex and unmistakably Te Mata, Awatea has become one of New Zealand’s most admired Cabernet blends, a wine that combines classic structure with the generosity and warmth of its Hawke’s Bay home.

Named after the famous New Zealand passenger liner SS Awatea, meaning “Eye of the Dawn”, the wine has always represented a vision of what was possible for New Zealand red wine. Alongside Coleraine, Te Mata’s iconic flagship Cabernet blend, Awatea helped establish a new benchmark for fine red wine in Aotearoa. Four decades later, it remains a beautiful expression of the estate’s commitment to place, precision and the timeless appeal of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc.

For those discovering Awatea for the first time, the attraction is immediately clear. It is a wine of balance and refinement, with rich aromas of blackcurrant, plum and dark berries layered with violet, cedar, tobacco and subtle spice. On the palate, silky tannins, fresh acidity and fine structure create a wine that feels both generous and elegant, a modern Hawke’s Bay interpretation of classic Bordeaux. Michael Cooper has described Awatea as more immediately seductive and perfumed in its youth than Coleraine, while still having the ability to mature gracefully over many years.

Recent vintages have continued to receive outstanding recognition from critics around the world. The 2021 Awatea Cabernet Merlot was awarded 97 points by Sam Kim of Wine Orbit, who praised its harmony, rich texture, silky tannins and flavours of blackcurrant, mulberry, tobacco and cedar. Huon Hooke awarded the same vintage 95 points, highlighting its precision, refinement and vibrant freshness, while Gary Walsh described its “precision and definition” and its long, elegant finish. Wine lovers have also embraced Awatea as a benchmark value wine in the Te Mata stable, offering a glimpse of the estate’s celebrated Bordeaux inspired style in a more approachable and accessible form.

Today, Awatea remains a wine for both celebration and discovery: a bottle to open with a great meal, or to place in the cellar and watch evolve. It is a reminder that great Cabernet is not limited to Bordeaux or the famous regions of the northern hemisphere. From the hills of Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, Te Mata Estate continues to craft a wine with history, character and a sense of place, a true New Zealand classic entering its next chapter.