Awatea takes its name from the historic ship SS Awatea (a Maori word meaning ‘Eye of the Dawn’) that sailed the Auckland – Sydney – Wellington route in the late 1930s. The Awatea was requisitioned as troop transport in WWII and was sunk off Algeria in 1942. The grapes for Awatea ’22 was hand harvested from Te Mata Estate’s vineyards between 20 and 27 March 2022.

The separate parcels of grapes were destemmed before a traditional warm-plunged fermentation and extended maceration on skins. The resulting wines were then run to new and seasoned French oak barrels for 15 months. Throughout this time, they were regularly topped and racked. The separate wines were blended in July 2023, then returned to barrel for their second winter. The finished wine was then egg white fined and bottled in November 2023. The final blend is 42% cabernet sauvignon, 44% merlot and 14% cabernet franc.