Te Awa Cabernet Merlot 2009

"These are head turning wines of exceptional balance and class."  Andrew Caillard MW

A delicious wine from the famous Gimblett Gravels of Hawke's Bay. Displays great depth, intensity and finesse. Beautifully balanced, with real energy. A long termer. Immensely appealing and great value.

"Concentrated ripe blackberry and blackcurrant aromas, cedary oak in balance. Intense flavour, very elegant and finely textured, with fine ripe powdery tannins, and persistent length. Very attractive indeed, balanced, very long and satisfying. Evenly textured. Worth cellaring too."  Huon Hooke

Expert reviews

"Deep, bright red/purple hue. Concentrated ripe blackberry and blackcurrant aromas, cedary oak in balance. Intense flavour, very elegant and finely textured, with fine ripe powdery tannins, and persistent length. Very attractive indeed, balanced, very long and satisfying. Evenly textured. Worth cellaring too. Drink: 2013-2025."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 95 points

"A delicious wine from the famous Gimblett Gravels of Hawke's Bay. Displays great depth, intensity and finesse. Beautifully balanced, with real energy. A long termer. Immensely appealing and great value."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines - 95 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Te Awa are a more recent arrival in Hawke’s Bay, comparatively, established in 1992. Race forward ten years and the new owner of Te Awa picked up a winery in Martinborough to add to his folio of interests: Dry River. The two wineries now sit side-by-side, so to speak, in the owner’s portfolio. You get the feeling that the Dry River sheen is definitely helping to fine-tune viticulture and winemaking processes at Te Awa as the wine standard has picked up in recent years. Especially as the wines tend to show a bit of a departure from regional style, tending to find a more harmonious, lighter frame than many peers. Composed of Cabernet Sauvignon 44%, Merlot 40%, Cabernet Franc 14% and Malbec 2%.

No exception here. Little, crushed wild flowers, blueberries and mulberry lead the aromatics. There is a sense of coolness and lift in the bouquet with a trace of spice, shaved dark chocolate and spicy tobacco chiming in. The palate is shimmering with energy – really vibrant and lightly presented with more blueberries, some briar and a plucky, lightly chewy finish in the wine. So bloody fresh, subtly formed and massively pure yet there’s detail and finer points – look for the playful, prickly acidity and slender, latticed tannins in this predominately Cabernet and Merlot blend. Delicious, pretty fruit flavours make this attractive, but you can dig deeper into the filigree structure to find further pleasures. Yes. Drink: 2011-2019."  Mike Bennie, The Wine Front - 93 points

Awards

Special Value Wine – Canterbury Wines  ★ 

About the winery

"Nestled in the heart of the Gimblett Gravels wine growing region in Hawke's Bay, NZ is the home of our Winery, Vineyard, Restaurant and Cellar Door (refer to the map below).

The full Maori name given to the site is Te Awa o Te Atua which means 'River of God', a reference to the mysterious subterranean streams over which the vineyards are situated and from which the wines draw their exquisite, yet subtle characteristics. The quality comes from the free draining soil which consistently produces high quality fruit. Walking the 50 hectare vineyard at Te Awa Winery you will see the vines planted in alluvial soils, typical of the area. Te Awa vineyard soils are the trails of the old Ngaruroro River which meandered through the region until a huge flood changed its course in 1867.

Farther along Gimblett Road the soil is all stone and shingle with little variation. At Te Awa however, the same stone and shingle profile is interspersed with small patches of sand and silt left behind by the swirling river, which provides for ideal grape growing."  Te Awa

 Te Awa Winery and Hawke's Bay sub-regions