Winemaker Notes
The color of the 2021 Coleraine wine is deep crimson with royal purple edges. It has exceptional character. Its aroma is pure Hawke’s Bay cabernet, with scents of wild blackberry, blackcurrant, thyme, cedar, and fresh roses, which are signature to Coleraine. The wine’s rich and vibrant palate is perfectly balanced, with a modern and varietally expressive taste, including cassis, raspberry, mocha, spice, and a distinctive minerality. The fruit ripeness is so succulent that it cloaks the profound, chiseled tannins that carry the palate on endlessly. With perfume, power, finesse, and length, this wine is a unique creation.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
We tasted this a couple of years ago. Aromas of ink, tar, blackberries, blueberries and lead pencil follow through to a medium- to full-bodied palate with firm and medium velvety tannins. Solid with great length and beauty. Needs time to soften but a great wine.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
If the 2019 Coleraine got you going, then the 2020 will do just the same, albeit at a different speed. Where the 2019 is evolving into a spicy, elegant, medium-bodied affair, the 2020 Coleraine is all silk, creamy finesse and power. It offers abundant fruit, the oak framing is creamy and soft and the tannins are ductile and firm, fully ensconced in the fruit—embossed into it, even. The wine is chewy with pouch tobacco, graphite, raspberry seed, saffron, raw cocoa and nori sheets. It makes me say, "Yes, yes and yes again." The choice between 2019 and 2020 is purely going to be based on your mood: 2020 will soothe, while 2019 will stoke.
One of the world’s most classic and popular styles of red wine, Bordeaux-inspired blends have spread from their homeland in France to nearly every corner of the New World. Typically based on either Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot and supported by Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot, the best of these are densely hued, fragrant, full of fruit and boast a structure that begs for cellar time. Somm Secret—Blends from Bordeaux are generally earthier compared to those from the New World, which tend to be fruit-dominant.
An eclectic region on the east coast of the North Island, Hawkes Bay extends from wide, fertile, coastal plains, inland, to the coast range, whose peaks reach as high as 5,300 feet. While the flatter areas were historically more popular because they are easier to cultivate, their alluvial soils can be too fertile for vines. In the late 20th century, the drive for quality led growers to the hills where soils are free-draining, limestone-rich and more suited to producing high quality wines.
Over the passing of time, the old Ngaruroro River laid down deep, gravelly beds, which were subsequently exposed after a huge flood in the 1860’s. In the 1980s growers identified this stretch, which continues for approximately 800 ha, and named it the Gimblett Gravels. The zone has proven to be ideal for the production of excellent red wines, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Syrah.
Today the area takes well-earned recognition for its Bordeaux blends and other reds. Expressive of intense stewed red and black berry with gentle herbaceous characters, Gimblett Gravels wines are suggestive of their cool climate origin, and on par with other top-notch Bordeaux blends around the globe.
Chardonnay is the top white grape in Hawkes Bay, making elegant wines, strong in stone fruit character. Sauvignon blanc comes in close behind, notable for its tropical, fruit forward qualities.