Reviews:

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Holly Pinot Noir 2004
Charmian Smith - Food and Wine writer, The Otago Daily Times
This label appeared last year with some deliciously good value wines. Holly, named after Alastair Scott's daughter, is the premium Pinot Noir - spicy with a hint of smokey, chocolately oak, a good mouthfeel, a lively hint of cherryplum and a satisfying finish.

3 stars out of 5

Graeme Barrow, In The Cellar
Wairarapa, fresh hay, dried herbs, and toast, cherries and plums, warm and savoury, with fresh acid and assertive tannins. Now / three years.

The Dominion Post, December 2004
Business is booming for one of Wairarapa’s smartest and newest wineries, thanks to debut wines like this made by Jane Cooper, mostly from fruit grown at Opaki, north of Masterton. Crisp and fresh and smooth with plenty of herbs and zing.

Karl Du Fresne, Sunday Star Times
Matahiwi, located on the stoney plains west of Masterton, is one of the bigger Wairarapa wineries. Jane Cooper is the winemaker and this pinot, named after the daughter of winery owners Alastair and Gina Scott, is the top wine in the range. From the vines that are still young, it's a middleweight style that offers lots of pleasantly spicy, plummy flavour.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Holly Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Karl Du Fresne, Sunday Star Times
What evocative sensations should you expect from a Wairarapa wine - a hint of wool? A scent of freshly mown hay? You won't find that here, but you will get a very different and immensley likeable style of sauvignon blanc fermented in oak using wild yeasts. Slightly semillon-like, it has the complexity and palate weight that most tank-fermented sauvignon blancs lack.

Aaron Watson – Wine Press – December 2009
Wow, seriously complex aroma. Pineapple and yeast/lees. A funky nose like a George Clinton bassline. Soft on the palate with a lime tang around the edge of the tongue and an almost mineral undertone. Great food wine with beautiful weight and complexity.

Joelle Thomson – The Herald - Wine
Forget about fresh cut grass, intense gooseberries and passionfruit flavours, this Wairarapa sauvignon blanc offers an entirely different taste. Wild yeast ferment creates a rounded, full-bodied white.

Matahiwi Estate Holly Sauvignon Blanc 2007
Yvonne Lorkin – Bay of Plenty Times –January 5th, 2009.
Wow! This is my kind of sauvignon. I love this wine’s punchy perfume of lemongrass, green nectarine and bales of hay on a summer day. It is ripe and mouthfilling with delicious, minerally, lemon verbena-like length of flavour and just the right amount of toasty oak to top it all off. I guarantee a glass of this will cellar beautifully for the next couple of years.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Nelson Sauvignon Blanc 2004
Graeme Barrow - The Northern Advocate
Gooseberry, passionfruit and fresh herb aromas and flavours. The acidity is firm but not abrasive. Good balance and concentration, for now and the shortish term.

Peter Saunders - Food and Beverage Marketplace Magazine, November 2004
Alive and sturmer apple with nice chunky overtones. A style nelson does well; just a bit different, still distinctly Sauvignon and ready as an aperitif and for tasty, tangy food courses.

Micheal Cooper, Buyers Guide to New Zealand Wines 2005
This skilfully crafted, nettley wine.. is a fresh, clearly herbaceous wine with smooth, vibrant melon and capsicum flavours, showing a touch of complexity, and a very good delicacy and depth.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Nelson Unoaked Chardonnay 2004

Jane Skilton MW, The Independent, 27 October 2004
The 2004 Matahiwi Estate Unoaked Chardonnay... with a strong aromatic character and a creamy, soft texture the wine is clean and vibrant.

Micheal Cooper, Buyers Guide to New Zealand Wines 2005
This is a summer-drinking wine, fresh and slightly off-dry with lively, peachy, citrusy flavours and good ripeness, depth and weight.

Graeme Barrow - The Northern Advocate
Nelson wine, young, cheerful and fruity; soft, peachy and with a hint of yeast. Pleasant, balanced wine, well priced for early drinking.

Peter Saunders - Food and Beverage Marketplace Magazine, November 2004
Good chunky food - friendly Chardonnay, young, still unfolding but already a good glass of hearty wine which will get better each month through 2005. Good value.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2004
Charmian Smith – Otago Daily Times – March 2005
Is a lighter style, but it’s very drinkable with all the characteristic cherry plum, spice and savoury flavours of good pinot noir. This is the first pinot noir from this Masterton winery, which is producing well-made, well-priced wines.

Matahiwi Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2008
New World Wine Awards 2009
Top 50 and Silver Medal New World Wine Awards 2009.
3 1/2 stars, Michael Cooper, August 2009

Sam Kim - Wine Orbit 4 stars
Ripe and sweet scented on the nose displaying dark cherry, plum and cured meat characters. It's brightly fruited on the palate showing good intensity, gentle acidity and supple tannins. A well balanced Pinot with generosity and appealing flavours. At its best: now to 2012.

Reviews from Australia

Matahiwi Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2004
Jeff Collerson - The Daily Telegraph, New South Wales
Matahiwi is in NZ's Wairarapa region, just north of the renowned Pinot Noir producing district of Martinborough. This is among the top five Pinot's I've tasted this year, and certainly the best at under $30. It shows deliciously funky, ripe Pinot characters on the nose while the medium-bodied palate has balance and complexity with a hint of smoky oak. Try it.

$28

Reviews from United Kingdom

Matahiwi Estate Wairarapa Pinot Noir 2004
Jane Macquitty - The Times Online, UK
I recommended the Matahiwi sauvignon blanc in the summer, but it deserves another tickle now that it is joined by its red screwcapped brother - this gorgeous, leafy, game and spice-laden red that will give Burgundians nightmares.

£8.99

Reviews from United Kingdom

Matahiwi Estate Rose 2004
Jancis Robinson from her website JancisRobinson.com, 19 November 2005
New Zealand Pinot in lunchtime form. Lots to get your teeth into. Screwcap of course. I prefer this to the red version.

£7.49

Matthew Jukes - wine matches with Indian food, he matches the Matahiwi Rose with a classic Balti dish
Classic baltis like a bit more depth of fruit in the glass, and the colour of the wine changes from white to lighter reds. Having said that, I prefer more macho rosés for this job, and Matahiwi is a United Kingdom début dreamboat. With strawberry and red cherry scented nuances, it glides across the palate dousing the spice and not stepping on the toes of the tomato and onion! You will not believe this match!

£7.49

Derek’s Wine List – West Moorland gazette UK
Initial spiced vegetable whiffs fade to a red cherry stone almost kirsch aromas before mellowing to soft ripe red cherry fruit followed by lingering and drying redcurrant flavours. A dryish pinot noir dominated rosé with a beautifully balancing fresh fruit. You want to be the one to take this to the barbecue. Don’t miss it.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Estate Rose 2004
John McGrath - Dominion Post, December 2004
After the present opening its time to munch on dried fruit and nuts while spending quality family time. Matahiwi Estate Rosé will go well with this. Made in the Wairarapa, the Matahiwi winery also produces Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc. The Rosé, served cold, of course, is dry-ish, fresh and at its drinking best now. This wine should come with a health warning - it might lead to being hung over and sunburnt by only 4 o'clock.

Micheal Cooper - Buyers Guide to New Zealand Wines 2005
This delicious 2004 vintage is a blend of estate-grown Pinto Noir (82 percent) and 18 percent bought-in Merlot. Harvested at an average of 23.4 brix, it is bright pink/red, full-bodied, fresh, vibrant and smooth, with loads of plummy berryish, dryish flavour and strong drink-young appeal.

Graeme Barrow - The Northern Advocate
Wairarapa wine, off-dry Pinot and Merlot blend, fruity with cherry aromas and flavours - easy, short term drinking.

Peter Saunders - Food and Beverage Marketplace Magazine, November 2004
Fresh and easy with just a touch of sweetness; a light and very approachable Rose, the perfect summer drink with nibbles or elevenses.

Peter Shaw - Waikato Times – October 2004
Has a slightly sweet caramel aroma. There is just a touch of sweetness to start on the palate, but it is a food wine and will go well at lunch or at a picnic. It might also go down well as an aperitif at your barbecue.

Reviews from Australia

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Tim White – The Australian Financial Review
Pure currant and passionfruit, with some nettle and peel. Really smart. Attacks with juicy fruit, plenty of gooseberry, pear and peach, but tight and zesty at the back with a touch of finishing oak. Delicious. 93/100. Try Lassefers Best Cellars (Qld), Sackville Hotel (NSW), King and Godfree (Vic), Eaglehawk Inn (Tas).

$21

The Courier Mail – Rory Gibson – October 2007
Fermentation in French oak barriques has added nutty characters to the tropical and citrus fruit flavours in this Kiwi white, which finishes with citrus acidity. Try it over the next year or two with seafood or Asian dishes.

Reviews from United Kingdom

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2005
Jane Macquitty - The Times Online, UK
The jury is still out on screwcaps, but for those who have given up wrestling with corks, this smart, steely, flowering currant and gooseberry-charged white is what you should be cracking open.

£7.49

Spittoon.com – UK
I thought this sauvignon was so good it justified an entry of its own. For a shade under eight quid you get pungency to the aroma and one that edges towards the capsicum edge of the spectrum –green, grassy and fresh. The flavours are a delicious amalgam of pear, apple and pineapple plus a herby angle, underpinned with a steely, crisp, citrus acidity. As can be read in the meal posting this wine accompanied asparagus and a garlicky pesto-mozzarella spread superbly. 12% alcohol. Screwcapped.

Reviews from New Zealand

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2004
Graeme Barrow – The northern Advocate – October 2004
New kid on the block , and from across Cook strait. Passionfruit and freshly cut grass aromas and flavours, with some gooseberry, and steely acidity. Strong and a touch austere.

Capital Times – November 2004
Jack-in-a-box asparagus, straw and capsicum aromas. Herbaceous punch on the palate, nice balance and a dry finish. Classic sauvignon, noted Andrew.

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2005
Tim Harris – NZ Herald Wine supplement – January 2005 Captures the appeal of dry, ripe sauvignon. It is 12% -ie low alcohol, and dry and tight, taut, tart and tangy, with a grassy nose. It tastes of gooseberries and sweet peppers.

Peter Shaw - Waikato Times – October 2006
Has crisp aromas of gooseberry and a little passionfruit. These flavours are well back on the palate, and it finishes with a nice balance.

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2006
Joelle Thomson -The Herald – September 2006
Here’s an unusually full-bodied sauvignon blanc, which will appeal as much to chardonnay fans as to those who want a fresh new white wine. It has a fresh youthful style and flavours that are subtle rather than over the top and fruity. Serve lightly chilled.

Matahiwi Wairarapa Sauvignon Blanc 2008
Bob Campbell MW– Wine Traveller
Marlborough is widely regarded as New Zealand’s sauvignon blanc capital and yet Wairarapa is on a similar latitude and enjoyed considerably better vintage conditions in 2008. Dry, crisp sauvignon blanc with citrus, aromatic herb and gooseberry flavours. Gently aromatic with assertive acidity and good fruit purity.