Winemaker Notes
This wine was fermented in a combination of old French oak barriques (25 percent) and stainless-steel tanks (75 percent), so there is very little oak influence on either nose or palate. This has allowed the vibrant fruit to show through beautifully with lively lime and lemon aromas and a flinty, mineral edginess with hints of fig and white peach. The weighty mid-palate also shows peachy ripeness along with crisp acid minerality that gives the wine a refreshing cleansing quality. This wine is delightful as an aperitif, and even better to drink with fish and shellfish.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Showing impressive purity and focus right from the very first impression, this provides flinty lemons, yellow grapefruit and peach and melon fruits that all sit in perfect, harmonious layers on the nose. The palate's assertively flavored, meanwhile, with lemons, peaches and pineapple, as well as hints of creamed honey and just the right acid balance, which allows this wine to sit long and fresh. Oak is a mere subtext here; it's all about pure, fresh fruit. Drink now.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Estate Chardonnay hails from a warm, riper vintage, and the wine today, 11 years from harvest, is laced together with saline threads of acidity. The phenolic structure inherent on the palate cups the fruit in its hands, allowing the fruit to show preserved citrus, salty roast chicken skin, red apple, yellow peach and linen/pressed cloth. The wine has started to show beeswax and biscuit. This is tremendous. And here I was thinking this cuvée was best consumed within a decade of harvest. This vintage shows it has five to 10 good years left, and possibly then some.
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Tasting Panel
Lush, smooth and ripe with racy fruit; silky and bright; long and balanced.
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Vinous
Oh-so fresh in terms of the bright, shining lemon color, the 2014 Chardonnay Estate is open and rich on the nose. This wine is welcoming and full on the palate. Smooth and creamy in texture, with ripe nectarine and lemon cream on the nose giving way to almond-butter-like development, it is drinking beautifully now, offering youth and tertiary complexity. Moderate length. Fabulous drinkability.
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Wine Spectator
A crisp, vibrant pineapple and grapefruit core, with accents of spice and honey adding complexity and richness on the long finish. Drink now.
Founded in 1944 by Mick Brajkovich, wife Katé and son Maté, Kumeu River was one of the early pioneers in Auckland, New Zealand, that helped to establish its reputation as a world-class wine region. Still family owned and run, Kumeu River continues to pioneer new frontiers: winemaker Michael Brajkovich became New Zealand’s first member of the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine, London, they have been testing and championing screw cap closures for close to 20 years and the winery has gone on to become the globally recognized benchmark for non-Burgundy produced Chardonnay. All Kumeu River wines are hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed and demonstrate exclusive use of indigenous yeast fermentation.
The Chardonnays of Kumeu River have gained a strong foothold within the international market, continuously and consistently receiving outstanding accolades. The winery is a globally recognized benchmark for age-worthy Chardonnay outside of Burgundy.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Grape-growers in the local subregions of Clevedon, Matakana and Waiheke Island, focusing on vineyard techniques to maximize quality, are producing very fine Bordeaux Blends from local grapes. Auckland is also an industrial area where winemakers can produce quality wines based on sourced grapes from neighboring regions.