WINERY Established in 1896, Te Mata Estate remains family owned, producing internationally recognized wines exclusively from its Hawke’s Bay vineyards, located on New Zealand’s North Island. Te Mata Estate is home to New Zealand’s oldest vineyards and wine cellars with over 125 years of continuous wine production.

WINE Sourced exclusively from Te Mata Estate’s own vineyards. The estate wines represent the best qualities of their variety, vintage, and Hawke’s Bay origin.

In 1995, Te Mata Estate introduced to New Zealand a superior selection of Gamay Noir à Jus Blanc, the grape variety of the best wines of France’s Beaujolais region. The 2024 Estate Gamay Noir is a single vineyard wine from Te Mata Estate’s Woodthorpe Terraces vineyard, harvested from March 7th to April 2nd, 2024. Woodthorpe Terraces is nestled between sheltering hills on elevated, freedraining, north-facing terraces in Hawke’s Bay Dartmoor Valley. The soils, which were left behind as the Tutaekuri River eroded its path through the hills to the sea, are mainly alluvial stone, clay and sandy loam. Vineyard planting began in 1994 and today Woodthorpe Terraces has 75 hectares under vine, planted to number of varietals and is the winery’s sole source for Gamay Noir.

2024 was exceptional but small. After flowering and fruit set, the ripening conditions were fantastic. With the vines carrying less fruit, the remaining clusters had real vibrancy, fruit expression and deep concentration and complexity.

The unique ‘maceration carbonique’ fermentation, which enhances the fruit and floral aromas of the wine, was used for 70% of the grapes. The other 30% received a traditional, warm, red wine fermentation. The resulting wines completed their malolactic fermentation and were matured for eight weeks in seasoned French oak barrels, before blending and bottling.

The 2024 Estate Gamay Noir is a deep candy red, bursting with ripe red fruit appeal and laden with complexity. On the nose it’s all cherry, strawberry and ripe, fresh raspberry with notes of marzipan, cinnamon and liquorice. There’s a lush French vanilla creaminess on the palate, with length, a little dryness, and a splash of sweet- red-fruit acidity. This structure, and the fine-grained tannins add further dimension to the juicy red fruit and spice.