February 2014

A beach-house cellar door is just the sort of getaway I'm looking for.

Te Awanga Estate is a cool little place. It's situated on a small hill in a modern New Zealand Bach (Beach House) style. The cellar door looks out over 42 Acres of vines and out to the Pacific Ocean with fantastic views on a nice clear day.
This wine label and site is owned by the well-known winemaker Rod McDonald and as such you can taste a full range of his wines here along with the 'Te Awanga Estate' wines.
A fan of variety Rod has several labels such as:Two Gates, Quarter Acre, One Off, Blanket Hills, Frizzell, as well as the Te Awanga Estate wines themselves.

You can also grab a great selection of platters, there is accommodation available year around and on certain Sundays around Summer they have their famous 'Sunday Sessions' with fantastic live music from local artists. 

The tasting was a nice round 6 wines (final wine not pictured) from almost all the labels available.

From the Quarter Acre Label we had the Hawke's Bay Sauvignon Blanc from 2012. 
Intense and zesty with crisp acidity, sourced from out at Maraekakaho.
The two Te Awanga Estate wines I tried were the 2012 Chardonnay (think lemon, peach, and a nice toasty, well-textured palate) and the 2013 Rosé made from Merlot which is not too sweet, with a slightly higher alcohol content, perfect for enjoying out the cellar door deck.
First up for the reds was the Frizzell Pinot Noir 2013 from the Hawke's Bay, floral and spicy with a nice dry finish.
Next up the Two Gates Syrah 2011 again from out at Maraekakho in the Hawke's Bay on river terraces with deep river gravels. Matured for about 20 months, this is a nice weighty Syrah with a rich white pepper nose and an excellent full palate. Fantastic Length.

Finally was the One/Off Late Harvest Sémillon 2010. The One/Off Label is the odds and ends that don't quite fit in with the rest. This wine was the perfect way to end the tasting, with a rich, thick texture, syrupy and with an excellent honey flavour. Wild Fermentation, left on lees for over 6 months and 84 grams/litre of residual sugar.

Experience: A lovely little site, nice food and a wide range of wines available. Friendly knowledgeable staff.
Tasting: A round six wines, a great cross-section of the Hawke's Bay across most of the available labels.

Final Verdict: A great place to stay, to eat, to listen to music, or just to enjoy a nice glass of wine and gaze out at the ocean. If you're heading to the Te Awanga beaches or Cape Kidnappers, make sure you stop by Te Awanga Estate.