Description
The flagship wine of our Waiheke Island vineyard, Te Motu is a Cabernet Sauvignon dominant blend with Merlot and Franc, hand harvested from low-yielding vines.
The wine enjoys extended élevage and maturing in premium French oak before beginning a minimum 3 year term resting in bottle. On release, the wine shows elegance, complexity and firm yet supple tannins – the hallmarks of its longevity – and will continue to reward cellaring.
“From the 2010 vintage we crafted a single blend that shows the complexity of the entire vineyard in peak form.”
Every vine on our Onetangi Valley site is nurtured through the season with the ambition of producing fruit for our premium blend – however having a season so in balance that every barrel makes the cut for the top tier drop is a once in a generation event.
We’ve held it back in our cellar for 10 years, and it’s just getting started.
- The late Raymond Chan: A full and firmly concentrated bouquet with aromas of ripe blackberried fruit with a layer of black earth, dark herbs and lifted oak. Medium-full bodied, the palate has concentrated and intense, vibrantly sweet flavours of blackcurrants, black plums and cassis liqueur. The fruit richness is balanced by fine-grained powdery tannins and the mouthfeel is enlivened by softly ripe, lacy acidity. This is a ripe, tight and concentrated Cabernet Sauvignon blend with rich black fruits and fine-grained structure, with power and linearity.
Raymond Chan 19/20
- Bob Campbell’s impressions:A cabernet sauvignon dominant blend with merlot and cabernet franc. A richly-textured wine with dark berry, Christmas cake, liquorice, cedar, cigar box and with emerging savoury bottle development. Complex and obviously long-lived wine that should continue to give pleasure for at least another decade, possibly more, depending on cellaring conditions.
Bob Campbell 96 points
- Robert Parker 93+ points
- Sam Kim 94 points
- Gourmet Traveller Magazine top 100 wines for NZ and Australia 2017
- Gold Medal at Six nations Wine Challenge Australia 2017