Kumeu River

Estate Chardonnay

2022
Auckland
New Zealand
Say It
KOO-mee-oo RIV-er Shar-do-NAY
Varietal
Chardonnay
$38
Flavors & Quality
Lemon Lemon
Mineral Mineral
Butterscotch Butterscotch
Linked Character
Wish List Share

Palate Character

Balance & Finesse 2 Rich & Full 2 Light & Bright 2 Smooth & Silky 2 Round & Fleshy 2 Tone & Backbone 2 Powerful & Extracted 2 Bright & Crisp 1
Bright & Crisp
This Wine Your Palate
Lucky You, a linked Palate Character!

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.

COLOR
Pale Straw Yellow
BODY
ACIDITY
SWEET
ALCOH.
13%
GRAPE(S)
Chardonnay
Learn More
Why this wine made the cut…
How do you say Chablis in Kiwi?
Auckland, New Zealand
GRAPE VARIETAL(S)
Chardonnay
100% Shar-do-NAY
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.
Country / State
New Zealand
Region
Auckland
Producer
Kumeu River
Winemaker(s)
Michael Brajkovich
Vintage
2022
Kumeu River chardonnay clusterKumeu River chardonnay cluster

Kumeu River

Auckland

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.

Kumeu River VineyardsKumeu River Vineyards
Kumeu River barrel tastingKumeu River barrel tasting

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.