Winemaker Notes
This release marks the 30th vintage for Mate’s Vineyard and continues the amazing run of vintages we have had with this vineyard. The conditions during the 2022 harvest were superb and the fruit from Mate’s Vineyard was ripe and pristine. The resulting wine shows the density, concentration and length that we expect and even though it is somewhat shy on the nose, with bottle age the full palette of complex aromas and bouquet of this wonderful wine will shine through.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Gorgeous precise aromas of apples, white peaches, some minerals, flint and stone. Subtle mangoes, too. Full-bodied but so intense and driven with a salty undertone and a driving finish. Some white pepper at the end with citrus skin. Focused and intense. Great finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The nose on this 2022 Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay leads with candied bananas, pineapple husk, white peach and a hint of lychee, and the edges of the aromatics are feathered with preserved citrus, brine, curry leaf and apple skins. In the mouth, the wine is powered by supercharged fruit; it is crystalline in its way, an attribute that I have long-since associated with the Chardonnays from Kumeu River. The flavor is sapid and palate-staining, with just enough salt and savory spices in the fruit to make it super complex as well as powerful. It is precisely folded like origami, each crease in service of the overall shape.* A wine that offers much and assumes nothing.
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Wine Spectator
Impressive, with density and concentration to the notes of marmalade, limoncello and white flowers. The core of Meyer lemon and apricot pastry shows hints of salted butterscotch and smoky litsea oil that linger on the long, mouthwatering finish.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is a powerful, some - what reductive vintage of Maté’s. Aromas of nuts, gunsmoke and toast frame concentrated stone and tropical fruit. There’s lot of oomph here, but a delicacy of fruit, too. In a polished style, and still very much a baby, this is structured for the long road ahead and should age gracefully for decades to come.
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.