From the Wine Advocate:
The 2021 Awatea Cabernets-Merlot is a thrilling wine and a worthy entree to the Coleraine—one of the Southern Hemisphere's best Cabernet blends. You get red fruits, savory exoticism, enoki mushroom, bay leaf, black tea leaves, pastrami, cassis bramble, red apple skins, tobacco leaf, vanilla pod, salted heirloom tomato, blackcurrant, flowers and delicate nuances of umami in profusion, along with crushed oyster shell, tea tree and native rosemary. It's bloody gorgeous. A sensational wine, it has detail, nuance and line, and it's very long and placid but precise. The 2021 Awatea is a blend of 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 36% Merlot and 14% Cabernet Franc that matured in barrel for 17 months, 30% new.
Wine Orbit 97:
Offering harmony and structure within an opulent framed of rich fruit and silky tannins, this is a gratifying red offering awesome value. The enticing bouquet shows blackcurrant, mulberry, tobacco and cedary oak characters with a delicate floral overtone. The palate displays amazing depth and persistency, wonderfully complemented by delectable fruit flavours with spicy nuances. Tannins are fine, mouth-coating and just right, making it structured and seamless at the same time. At its best: 2025 to 2038.
And the top 5-star rating from Michael Cooper:
Compared to Coleraine, in its youth Awatea is more seductive, more perfumed, and tastes more of sweet, ripe fruit, but it is more forward and slightly less concentrated. The wine can mature gracefully for many years, but is also typically delicious in its youth. The 2021 vintage is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (50%), Merlot (36%) and Cabernet Franc (14%). Dark and purple-flushed, it is mouthfilling, with deep blackcurrant, berry and spice flavours, complex and savoury, finely tuned tannins and a very harmonious finish. An elegant, rich, distinctive red, it offers great value and should be at its best 2026+.
And the Real Review:
Blackcurrant, raspberry and leaf, tobacco, and spicy perfume, pencil/cedar oak. Medium-bodied, tannin sits so nicely within the wine, fresh and long, with classic fragrance in with that. So 'minerally' and cool. Very long. Precision and definition mark it out as a wine of class and fine filigreed deliciousness. It’s just so good, energetic, stony and definitely worthy of cellaring. Superb.
