Te Mata Cape Crest Sauvignon Blanc 2024

Te Mata Estate was established here in 1896, specialising in high-quality wines of classical style. Every step in the production of our wines is undertaken by us; from grape growing and pruning through to small-batch winemaking, sub-regional blending, and bottling. After 130 years of winemaking onsite Te Mata Estate has both the oldest and the newest – most technically advanced – cellars in New Zealand.

Hawke’s Bay is a very special place for making wine. Its range of slopes, plains and climatic differences, coupled with low humidity and ample ultra-violet light, give winemakers a comprehensive toolkit to showcase their skills. There are micro-regions on sandstone, lime, clay and iron, and many with young soils derived from the gravels, silt and sands left behind as the five main rivers of Hawke’s Bay changed course over thousands of years.

Cape Crest and its gannet symbol refer to Cape Kidnappers, the southern point of Hawke Bay, home to the world’s largest mainland colony of these remarkable marine birds.

The separate parcels were each destemmed and lightly crushed, then cooled before a brief period of skin contact. Following pressing and cold-settling, they were all run to a mixture of new and seasoned French oak barrels for fermentation and maturation, with 36% being new oak. The resulting wines were aged on lees, with regular stirring, for a further 11 months before bottling in February 2025. Cape Crest ’24 is a blend of 86% sauvignon blanc, 9% semillon and 5% sauvignon gris.