Kumeu River - Wonderful Chardonnay from New Zealand

KUMEU RIVER WITH THE NEW PLYMOUTH WINE TASTING CLUB - New Plymouth Hotel (9/13/2012)

Kumeu River, from an area just above Auckland in the North Island of New Zealand, came to visit our wine tasting club New Plymouth.

The stars of their portfolio really are their Chardonnays, which may be the best in New Zealand, a country not usually known for Chardonnay. They aim at a Burgundian style--I believe they all are barrel fermented, have extended lees contact and all go through malolactic fermentation. They are lovely, classic Chardonnay with great feel, complexity and style. I believe they are a real steal when compared to wine of a similar quality from elsewhere in the world. I highly recommend their Chardonnay at all price points.

A very enjoyable evening and a very interesting presentation from Michael Brajkovich. This was my first experience with Kumeu River and I look forward to following their wine from now on.

• 2009 Kumeu River Chardonnay Village - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Lovely fruit with bright acid, green apple and a yeasty quality. Very nice in a style leaning toward old world. Long finish. Crisp and clean with a little mineral.
  B
• 2009 Kumeu River Chardonnay Estate - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Luscious and silky. Malolactic, soft flavors, floral with good bright acidic cut. Burgundian style. Really nice.
  B+

• 2009 Kumeu River Chardonnay Coddington - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Fat, wide, nice yeasty complexity, perhaps from extended lees contact. Medium weight with a slight spritz. Steely, grippy acid. Very long finish. Has a real interesting, idiosyncratic, individual personality. Terrific.
  B++
• 2009 Kumeu River Chardonnay Hunting Hill - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Bright, narrow with some spritz, mineral, stone. Really bright steely quality. Long petrol finish with lemon and a note of sweet honeysuckle. Not as concentrated as Coddington. Somewhat light weight.
  B/B+

• 2009 Kumeu River Chardonnay Mates Vineyard - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Full and broad with bright steely acid. Sharp high toned cut and a long mineral finish with a bit of spritz. Tight grip and a bit of grass and lemon peel. Great complexity. A compelling wine, full bodied and medium weight with a great feel and texture. Wonderful.
  A-
• 2010 Kumeu River Pinot Gris - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Bright flowers with honey. Light bodied but full flavored. Simple, bright, easy drinking. Not a watery version, this has pretty character.
  B-

• 2009 Kumeu River Pinot Noir Village - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Bright, simple, light styled Pinot Noir. Clear with a dark undertone. Bit of black tar. Not bad, a weekday wine.
  C+/B-
• 2007 Kumeu River Pinot Noir Estate - New Zealand, North Island, Auckland, Kumeu
  Round, soft, broad and earthy. Some leather, soy, mushroom, barnyard. A Burgundian style.
  B/B-

I agree, I have tasted quite a few chards from New Zealand and my favorites by far have been from Kumeu River winery. The Mates vyd has been my fav. Their style is restraint and nothing over the top and well balanced. Distribution has not always been consistent but seems to be better now in SO CA.

According to winemaker/owner Michael Brajkovich they have a new distribution network in New York and California and should increase availability.

I think I've only had their entry level Chardonnay but really enjoyed it.

By the way, as I understand it 2009 (the vintage I tasted) was a very good vintage. However during the early growing season of the 2010 vintage there was a frost that severely reduced the crop. So while there will be about half of the usual amount of wine available for 2010, the quality is reportedly fantastic.

[Jenise]

I agree, I have tasted quite a few chards from New Zealand and my favorites by far have been from Kumeu River winery. The Mates vyd has been my fav. Their style is restraint and nothing over the top and well balanced.

+1. Discovered the winery about 20 years ago--I know I was living in Alaska at the time and remember a bottle showing up with an out of state guest who was surprised that, in such a remote place, we were already familiar. The chardonnays (I've never had any other grape variety from them) were more extracted (deep bright yellow-gold) and full-bodied then than now--you wouldn't have called them Burgundian--but captivating in keeping with the style of the time. I know that my own tastes back then didn't recognize "too big".

Matt, I've had Kuleu River many years ago and remember it much as you describe. How do they do it at roughly 37° latitude S? That's about as close to the equator as Catania in Sicily, which is half a continent south of where decent Chard can be made in Europe. Are there cooling currents in the nearby sea which ward off the flabbiness which IMO spoils most warm climate Chard.

Tim, yes, the maritime climate here has a big effect on the weather. We get most of our weather fronts here in Auckland from the south Tasman sea. What Tasmania gets we get about three days later. But we also get very settled conditions over the growing season. Not really very hot, it gets to maybe 28C in summer here. Everyone in Auckland then complains that "Summer is a hot one this year, I need to go for a swim to cool off". It doesn't help that the humidity might be somewhere north of 80%. The true antipodes of Auckland is somewhere on the south coast of Spain.

Further south, in Central Otago at about 45 deg South, it can get quite hot, in excess of 30C (I would have to check some figures here) for extended periods. It also get reasonably cold in winter with a significant amount of snow, which might help the development of the big numbers of Pinot Noir grapes planted there.

The NE winds (Nor' Easters) that can sometimes roar in over the Southern Alps in the South Island can get the temperature souring to the East of the mountains for days at a time, drying out the land and air of much of the SI. Wind speeds of these can regularly push 80-100kph.

Tim-
Here is their location:

http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?client=safari&rls=en&oe=UTF-8&redir_esc=&q=550+State+Highway+16,+Kumeu,++New+Zealand&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x6d0d15ad3467db61:0x4fc0edaf24263b88,550+State+Highway+16,+Kumeu+0892&gl=nz&sa=X&ei=d5NXUNLIE8GimQW0jYHgCg&ved=0CCAQ8gEwAA

If you zoom out you can see they are quite near both the Tasman Sea and the Pacific on either side. I've not been up there yet (planning to go this January during the summer) and I'm told the region is quite warm but Michael Brajkovich of Kumeu told us that the proximity of Sea and Ocean on both sides keeps the temperatures moderated in their vineyards. He is a 3rd generation owner and winemaker for Kumeu and as he told us, they did not choose Chardonnay, rather it chose them (as he put it). In fact they originally were thinking they would be producing Merlot.

If we visit there I'll post another report.

NZ is making great strides with chardonnay. Certianly Kumeu River is one of the top producers, but also worth checking out is Neudorf, especially their Moutere Chardonnay - they are based in Nelson, at the top of the South Island. Sacred Hill's Rifleman's chardonnay from Hawkes Bay is another consistent performer.

I really like Neudorf Moutere Pinot Noir and have heard good things about the Chardonnay but have not tried it yet. I'll look for Sacred Hill, thanks for the tip.