Winemaker Notes
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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Wine Enthusiast
This may be the lowest priced of the Kumeu range, but there's a salivating factor that makes it very appealing to drink now. Bright melon, peach and white florals lead, with the creamier elements tucked neatly behind. There's a lovely lift of acidity to balance the fruit, oak and lees influence on the palate. An excellent intro to NZ's Chardonnay benchmark producer. Drink up.
Editors' Choice -
Decanter
The Kumeu River team calls this 'a perfect aperitif wine' sourced from the Rays Road vineyard and others in Hawke's Bay along with Kumeu estate fruit. It's a minerally, crisp Chablis style showcasing green apple and crunchy nectarine flavours with lime leaf and verbena nuances.
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Wine Spectator
Crisp and lemony up front, with notes of nectarine and ripe melon that show a touch of Fuji apple. Details of crushed stone minerality and a touch of toasted sesame seed add an appealing savory accent. Drink now. 10,000 cases made, 1,736 cases imported.
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.