This is a predominantly Bright & Crisp wine, but it shares structural nuances of Balance & Finesse as described in the tasting note below.
Tasting Notes
Medium plus bodied with an attractive vein of acidity, yielding lemon and white peach fruit, and an oyster shell-like minerality, followed by notes of ginger, flowers, white pepper, and a touch of butterscotch.
Body is the impression of a wines weight, density, or its ‘mouth-feel’. Some wines feel weighty, or full bodied, while others feel light bodied. Wine runs the gamut from light to full, with most falling somewhere in between.
ACIDITY
Low
Moderate
Balanced
Crisp
High
Acidity is a foundational component in wine. In fact, low acidity, or ‘flabby’ wine (as the term suggests) is a negative. You can sense acidity mainly on the sides of your tongue. Acidity generally ranges from balanced to high. Crisp acidity adds freshness, making your mouth water. Acidity is a necessary element and helps to balance other components.
SWEETNESS
Dry
Off Dry
Medium Dry
Medium Sweet
Very Sweet
Most wines are characterized as dry to off-dry, but there are some grape varietals, like Riesling, that run the gamut from dry to sweet. The tip of the tongue mainly detects sweetness, which is why it is often the primary characteristic detected. Sweetness is derived from residual sugar that did not ferment into alcohol.
ALCOHOL
13%
Alcohol is the by-product of fermentation. Differing grape varieties have differing potential alcohol levels, but regardless warmer areas result in riper grapes resulting in higher alcohol. Alcohol level is an objective number, but its affect on its palate impression is largely determined with how well integrated and balanced it is with other components.
Chardonnay may be the most versatile white wine grape, often seen as a blank canvas. It displays various flavors and aromas depending on where it is grown and more specifically, how it is made. It can range in Palate Character from Bright & Crisp to Rich & Full depending on the climate. It is also particularly malleable and highly affected by winemaking choices like as malolactic fermentation, lees stirring, barrel fermentation and ageing practices.
Auckland’s Kumeu River was founded in 1944 by the Brajkovich family, immigrants from Croatia. From the early 1980s, the winery focused on single varietals, a practice that was relatively new to the area and which, over time, has become recognized for making terroir-driven Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
This New Zealand winery farms 30 hectares of vines planted on clay and sandstone soils cooled by ocean breezes. Non-irrigated vineyards are harvested by hand with the grapes fermented by indigenous yeasts and aged on their lees in French oak barrels.
Kumeu River’s wines balance both ripeness and racy acidity, bringing focus to the purity of New Zealand terroir accomplished through classic, old-world Burgundian winemaking traditions.
Lemon
Mineral
Butterscotch
