California wine writer and author of American Wine Linda Murphy was a consultant to Air New Zealand in 2015 and 2016 and, presumably on the strength of that, was invited to a complete retrospective of Te Mata Coleraine, NZ's earliest significant red.
Te Mata Estate’s Coleraine, named after the distinctive white house shown here, is a New Zealand national treasure, a Bordeaux-style blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc from Hawke’s Bay that defies all notions that these varieties cannot ripen in New Zealand’s cool climate.
Since its first vintage in 1982, Coleraine has been a benchmark for Cabernet-centric...