Winemaker Notes
The Mate’s Vineyard is usually the most reserved and unyielding when young with the nose being closed, just giving hints of the golden queen peach and mineral notes that we expect from Mate’s Vineyard. On the palate however, the flavor is very concentrated and distinctly richer than the other 2017 wines, but maintaining a perfect balance and freshness that sets this wine apart and makes it wonderful. This is a wine of immense concentration that will be very long lived.
Drink with seafood, chicken, pasta and risotto.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The mineral character of this wine is currently so pronounced and the fruit so closed that it’s not easy, also because of the slight funk from reduction, to identify the grape variety. On the palate, this marathon-runner chardonnay is very clean and highly structured with lots of drive, the finish very long and complex. Drink or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay shows that this wine needs time to come into its own. All the rambunctious energy and barely bridled power of the wine on release and close to it is harnessed by time. It shows a previously bucking brumby to be a purebred stallion, one made for speed and endurance. Excellent. It remains savory, the depth of complexity only deepening with time. I love this as much as I love the Hunting Hill—that wine being restrained and composed, this being a fete of power and concentration.
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.