Te Mata Estate - Awatea Cabernets Merlot - 2019

It’s Cabernet Sauvignon 46%, Merlot 32%, and Cabernet Franc 22%. It’s the best Awatea I can recall tasting. I’m tasting it alongside the 2019 Coleraine as a point of reference. Blackcurrant, raspberry leaf, spice and perfume, dark chocolate and black tea. Medium-bodied, dense, firm and concentrated, a subtle herbal fragrance through red and black fruits, with an umami edge of black olive tapenade, a distinct ‘mineral’ ironstone feel to it, crisp raspberry acidity and flavour, a tight mesh of fine chalky tannin to close out a long bright finish. Wonderful. 95 Points Gary Walsh, The Wine Front