Kumeu River Estate 2022
Chardonnay is the lifeblood of Kumeu. Or so it is written. An almost unswerving quality with distinct sheen and transparency, an able match of gentle winemaking overlay, but a commitment to a ‘house style’. It’s been like this since 1983, though the family’s vineyard presence stretches back to a small plot purchased in 1944. GARY WALSH, winefront.com
When the Brajkovitch family was given a canvas upon which to paint their own expression of chardonnay, they created a masterpiece. NEAL MARTIN, wineadvocate.com
The eternal Kumeu River question - is there a better chardonnay producer in the southern hemisphere?
Well the answer is, there's really is no answer (just so many contenders and to be honest most of them come from Australia) BUT if I were to be selected for the affirmative side in the debating team, here's what I'd say.
1. Winemaker, Michael Brajkovich is perhaps the greatest chardonnay maker of his generation.
2.Who says? Well, everyone. They could wallpaper a small town with the amount of critical acclaim they've accumulated. There are no stop-outs, literally everyone who's anyone has joined a queue to heap praise upon him and his wines.
2. He turns out remarkable quality chardonnay at every price point from the entry-level village bottling through to their fabulous single-vineyard wines.
3. Somehow he and the family do this from vineyards north of Auckland; an area most pundits have always assumed has no right to produce chardonnay at this level. Too warm, too wet.
4. They keep their pricing respectful of what's in the bottle but also attainable to their legion of fans. Moreover, the lack of ego and respect for their customers on that score should be applauded as it's not that common anymore.
Anyway, I've got a about another ten bullet-points but if the above hasn't won me the debate by now then my audience is Methodist or some other teetotaler mob. Even then, I'd open a bottle and force feed them a glass and I have no doubt they'd be converted to the right side of things.
Jokes aside, Kumeu chardonnays never fail to deliver, be it on a visceral drink-something-utterly-delicious level or, on an intellectual level, where Brajkovich seems to have cracked the code of layering just the right amount of winemaking to build complexity but at the same time preserving the primacy of the fruit source.
I have to say I think the Estate Chardonnay is the unsung hero of the range. Somewhat "hidden" between the uber-value of the village and the uber-quality and collectability of the single site wines, it never fails to find a goldilocks zone, treading the border country of approachability via it's fluid texture and accessible fruit and then revealing a serious side with clever use of wood and phenolics to create puckering grip and driving length.
The 2022 is yet another version on that familiar thematic. It's a tad more accessible than usual but that's not a bad thing. Pristine fruit, meally and oaty, play alongside a touch of oak spice before a lovely phenolic twang draw it out across the palate.
Cheers,
Michael McNamara
When the Brajkovitch family was given a canvas upon which to paint their own expression of chardonnay, they created a masterpiece. NEAL MARTIN, wineadvocate.com
The eternal Kumeu River question - is there a better chardonnay producer in the southern hemisphere?
Well the answer is, there's really is no answer (just so many contenders and to be honest most of them come from Australia) BUT if I were to be selected for the affirmative side in the debating team, here's what I'd say.
1. Winemaker, Michael Brajkovich is perhaps the greatest chardonnay maker of his generation.
2.Who says? Well, everyone. They could wallpaper a small town with the amount of critical acclaim they've accumulated. There are no stop-outs, literally everyone who's anyone has joined a queue to heap praise upon him and his wines.
2. He turns out remarkable quality chardonnay at every price point from the entry-level village bottling through to their fabulous single-vineyard wines.
3. Somehow he and the family do this from vineyards north of Auckland; an area most pundits have always assumed has no right to produce chardonnay at this level. Too warm, too wet.
4. They keep their pricing respectful of what's in the bottle but also attainable to their legion of fans. Moreover, the lack of ego and respect for their customers on that score should be applauded as it's not that common anymore.
Anyway, I've got a about another ten bullet-points but if the above hasn't won me the debate by now then my audience is Methodist or some other teetotaler mob. Even then, I'd open a bottle and force feed them a glass and I have no doubt they'd be converted to the right side of things.
Jokes aside, Kumeu chardonnays never fail to deliver, be it on a visceral drink-something-utterly-delicious level or, on an intellectual level, where Brajkovich seems to have cracked the code of layering just the right amount of winemaking to build complexity but at the same time preserving the primacy of the fruit source.
I have to say I think the Estate Chardonnay is the unsung hero of the range. Somewhat "hidden" between the uber-value of the village and the uber-quality and collectability of the single site wines, it never fails to find a goldilocks zone, treading the border country of approachability via it's fluid texture and accessible fruit and then revealing a serious side with clever use of wood and phenolics to create puckering grip and driving length.
The 2022 is yet another version on that familiar thematic. It's a tad more accessible than usual but that's not a bad thing. Pristine fruit, meally and oaty, play alongside a touch of oak spice before a lovely phenolic twang draw it out across the palate.
Cheers,
Michael McNamara