New Zealand · Hawke’s Bay

Te Mata Estate

A family-owned Hawke’s Bay estate, established in 1896, with a wide grape-led range from Cabernet-Merlot blends to textured Sauvignon Blanc.

The producer

Te Mata Estate works solely with Hawke’s Bay vineyards and keeps grape growing, handpicking, winemaking, blending and bottling under estate control. Established in 1896 and owned by the Buck and Morris families since 1974, it makes Cabernet-Merlot wines such as Coleraine and Awatea alongside Bullnose Syrah, Elston Chardonnay, Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc and Zara Viognier; the breadth comes from several grapes grown within one region.

Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc 2019 shows a particularly textured white-wine direction. Passionfruit and blackcurrant leaf lead the aroma, while nectarine and lime bring fruit and brisk acidity across the palate. Barrel influence adds weight through the middle, and mineral and spice notes carry the dry finish beyond simple fresh-fruit Sauvignon Blanc.

Known for

Hawke’s Bay wines across Cabernet-Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier, made from vine to bottle under estate control.

Notable facts

The story

The vines above the stables

In 1892, Bernard Chambers planted vines on three hillside parcels above the homestead, four years before Te Mata Estate’s stated establishment date. At the same time, he began converting the property’s original stables into rooms for fermenting and maturing the first wines. The work joined two practical preparations: vineyard rows on the hill and working spaces below for grapes once they were picked. Those three parcels and the adapted stables formed the physical starting point of an estate where wine has continued to be made onsite for at least 130 years.

From the atlas

Te Mata Estate

At A Glance

The Producer

Te Mata Estate works only with Hawke’s Bay vineyards, from growing and pruning grapes through to blending and bottling wine. That close chain matters across a range that moves from Cabernet and Merlot in Coleraine and Awatea to Syrah in Bullnose, Chardonnay in Elston, Sauvignon Blanc in Cape Crest and Viognier in Zara: the same estate can make several grape-led wines without leaving its home region.

Place

The estate is based at 349 Te Mata Road in Havelock North, and Hawke’s Bay is the address carried through every bottle. Rather than attaching its name to fruit from several regions, Te Mata keeps Cabernet, Merlot, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Viognier within Hawke’s Bay, so each label begins with a clear regional source before grape and cellar choices take over.

Soil And Site

The earliest recorded vineyard ground was three hillside parcels above the homestead, planted by Bernard Chambers in 1892. Those slopes are the physical beginning of the estate’s wine story, while the original stables beside them were adapted for fermentation and maturation; the available record does not turn those hills into a catalogue of soil types or named exposures.

Story

Te Mata’s stated establishment date is 1896, though the work had started earlier with Chambers’s hillside plantings and the conversion of the stables. The Chambers family sold the property in 1919, then the Buck and Morris families acquired it in 1974. Under that family ownership, the range has drawn on Bordeaux grapes for Cabernet-Merlot wines and Northern Rhône influence for Syrah and Viognier, while still keeping the fruit in Hawke’s Bay.

Vineyards And Cellar

Handpicked fruit enters a production chain managed from vineyard work to bottle, allowing Te Mata to follow individual lots through small-batch winemaking and sub-regional blending. Its regenerative farming and site-measured vineyard systems include biodynamic and organic methods, alongside composting, wildflower planting and water recycling. In practical wine terms, those decisions keep attention on the condition of the fruit before the cellar shapes texture, oak influence or final blend.

The estate’s vineyards received Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand accreditation in 1995 and the winery followed in 2005; every wine carries the programme’s symbol. Certification does not describe a flavour by itself, but it records a working framework behind wines made onsite rather than assembled from bought-in finished components.

Wines

The named range is arranged by grape and style rather than by a single red or white formula. Coleraine and Awatea take Cabernet and Merlot into red blends; Bullnose puts Syrah at the centre; Alma is Pinot Noir; Elston is Chardonnay; Cape Crest is Sauvignon Blanc; and Zara is Viognier. The result is a cellar with reds built around tannin and fruit weight, alongside whites that can move from citrus and acidity toward broader texture.

A second collection, launched in 2012, names six varietal directions: Merlot/Cabernets, Syrah, Pinot Noir, Gamay Noir, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. It sits apart from the estate’s named wines and keeps the grape in plain view. Cape Crest supplies the clearest supported sensory marker in the range: its 2019 bottling combines very fresh Sauvignon Blanc character with barrel influence, rather than treating Sauvignon Blanc as only a sharp, fruit-led white.

In The Glass

Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc 2019 opens with passionfruit and blackcurrant leaf, so the aroma moves between tropical fruit and a leafy, savoury note. On the palate, nectarine rounds the fruit while lime brings brisk acidity; mineral and spice notes extend the finish. Barrel influence adds texture around that citrus-driven line, making the wine feel more layered than a simple burst of fresh fruit.

A Bottle To Understand It

Start with Te Mata Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc 2019. It is a Hawke’s Bay Sauvignon Blanc with passionfruit, blackcurrant leaf, nectarine and lime, but its barrel influence adds weight and texture through the middle of the palate. That combination makes it a useful first bottle: it shows a familiar grape in a more structured, dry expression while staying firmly rooted in the estate’s regional fruit.

Anecdote

In 1892, Bernard Chambers planted vines across three hillside parcels above the homestead. He was also working on the buildings: the property’s original stables began to be converted for fermentation and maturation of the first Te Mata Estate wines. The planting came four years before the estate’s stated establishment date of 1896, so the young vineyard rows and the altered stables were already in place as the operation took shape. The details remain unusually tangible for such an early chapter: three parcels on the hill, a homestead below them, and stable rooms being remade for grapes, fermenting wine and casks.

Final Word

Te Mata Estate is easiest to follow through its Hawke’s Bay fruit and its spread of grapes: Cabernet and Merlot for red blends, Syrah and Viognier for Rhône-shaped bottles, and Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir in distinct roles. Cape Crest shows how that breadth can still lead to a specific glass—bright citrus and leafy fruit, then barrel-shaped texture and spice.

Sources

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