Te Mata Estate Hawke's Bay Merlot Cabernets 2025

Description

Oak, Plum, Spice

Deep ruby with a royal purple edge, the Estate Merlot/Cabernet ’25 is vibrant and layered. Aromas of blackberry, red currant and plum combine with lifted florals, graphite, bay leaf, black olive and hints of cedar. Concentrated ripe fruit fills the palate, where rich dark berry flavours integrate with savoury complexing notes all in a taut, fine-grained, extended frame that finishes long, dry and beautifully composed. Estate Merlot/Cabernet ’25 will continue to evolve in bottle for five years from harvest.

Sourced exclusively from Te Mata Estate’s own vineyards, the estate wines represent the best qualities of their variety, vintage, and Hawke’s Bay origin.

The grapes for Estate Merlot/Cabernet ’25 were harvested between 4 March and 12 April 2025 from Te Mata Estate’s own vineyards in the Havelock Hills, Bridge Pa Triangle, Dartmoor, Havelock North and Gimblett Gravels sub-regions of Hawke’s Bay.

The individual parcels of each variety from each plot were destemmed before undergoing a traditional warm fermentation, followed by extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were pressed, returned to tank for malolactic fermentation, then run off into a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barrels for maturation prior to blending. The wines were regularly topped and racked throughout maturation, then blended and traditionally egg-white fined before bottling. The final blend comprises 52% Merlot, 34% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 14% Cabernet Franc.

Food Pairing: Estate Merlot/Cabernets ’23 is a wonderful accompaniment to mushrooms, grilled meats and hard cheeses.