Te Mata Estate

Te Mata is New Zealand wine's establishment estate — vines were first planted on its Havelock North hillsides in the 1890s, and the original winery buildings are still in use. Its modern chapter began in 1974, when John Buck and partners bought the property with the then-eccentric ambition of making serious Cabernet in Hawke's Bay. Coleraine, the Cabernet Sauvignon–Merlot–Cabernet Franc flagship first bottled from the 1982 vintage, became the country's most collected red: a claret-proportioned wine that ages twenty years with ease and anchors an unbroken vintage run few New World estates can match. Bullnose Syrah and Elston Chardonnay complete the trio, all estate-grown, all made with a restraint that reads more old world than new.