Established in 1896, Te Mata Estate remains family owned, producing internationally recognized wines exclusively from its Hawke's Bay vineyards. The Estate's ownership varied frequently until John and Wendy Buck acquired it in 1978. John and Wendy instigated a twenty-year development program, which commenced with the restoration of the original winery building and the replanting of all of the original vineyards, as well as the acquisition of new vineyard sites.

Te Mata winery has been ranked 'Top Winery in New Zealand' evidenced by the consistent quality of the Coleraine and Awatea Cabernet Merlot wines, the Bull Nose Syrah and the Elston Chardonnay.

This includes some Gimblett Gravel fruit which gives black and white pepper, iodine, lead pencil, and black fruit aromas and flavors. Tar and asphalt. Full-bodied and tied in with a lovely structure and focus. Linear and very racy. Terrific integration and structure. Drinkable, but better in two or three years. Rated: 96 Points; James Suckling

Almost glass-staining purple colour, very bright; the bouquet loaded with an amalgam of brown spice aromas, toasted nuts too, including clove, nutmeg and pepper. A powerful, concentrated and tensioned wine with bright acidity and firm but measured tannins that lead into a very long finish. Great potential here. Rated: 96 Points; Huon Hooke; The Real Review

Expressing precision and purity, combined with brooding strength and complexity, this is spectacular and breathtaking. Immediately appealing with dark plum, sweet cherry, graphite, olive, spicy oak and floral aromas, it’s succulent and fleshy in the mouth delivering layers of seductive flavours backed by beautifully infused tannins. It’s mouthfilling and velvety with a prolonged engaging finish. Rating: 99 Points; Wine Orbit

Gee, it really pops. Medium-bodied, bright and fresh, lots of energy, red fruits, graphite tannin, umami flavours but not at the expense of fragrance and finesse. Finish is excellent, and long, kind of dusty and spicy, a distinctly cool ‘mineral’ feel, with a game and juniper berry edge. A terrific expression of HB Syrah. Rated: 95 Points; Gary Walsh; The Wine Front