Wine Review: Kumeu River Mates Chardonnay 2024

To complete my tastings of Kumeu River's newly released 2024 Chardonnays, today I am reviewing the wine from Mates Vineyard. I spend a little time trying to outline the influence the Late Mate Brajkovich had on shaping this wine and with it New Zealand's wine industry. The wine is an incredible point on which to finish this set of 5 tastings. Kumeu River make some of new Zealand's finest Chardonnays and the 2024 vintage has proved excellent, so do be sure to watch my video reviews of the other four wines as well.

Kumeu River is a winery, located just outside the town of Kumeu, 25 kilometres (15.5 miles) northwest of central Auckland, in New Zealand. The winery is particularly known for its Burgundian-style Chardonnays, of which it produces several expressions. The wines are critical favorites having received various international awards and accolades.

The winery was founded as San Marino Vineyards by the Brajkovich family in 1944, seven years after they had emigrated from Croatia. By the late 1970s it had a solid reputation based on hybrid grape varieties used for fortied wines and everyday reds and whites.

In the 1980s, the current generation of brothers Milan, Paul and Michael Brajkovich MW became more involved in the business - more recently their sister Marianna has also joined them. The company transitioned focus to high-quality production, with a focus on Burgundy-inspired Chardonnay. The Kumeu River Wines name was adopted in 1986.

In addition to the estate in the Kumeu region, the Rays Road vineyard was acquired in 2017, located in the Hawke's Bay region, it had been established in 2008 as a joint venture between Trinity Hill and Pascal Jolivet a producer from Sancerre in France's Loire Valley. Predominantly based on limestone soils and significantly more elevated than most vineyards in Hawkes Bay, the site produces wines on a style that has been likened to Chablis .

Discover more about this wine, its pricing and where to buy it by following this link to the Wine-Searcher website:
https://www.wine-searcher.com/find/ri...

▶️ CHAPTERS:
0:00 Kumeu River Mates Chardonnay 2024 wine label
0:18 Arguably New Zealand's best Chardonnay
0:33 How to pronounce Mates
0:44 Location of Kumeu River
0:54 The Brajkovich family and foundation of the winery
1:46 Mate Brajkovich
2:32 Renaming the estate and planting international varieties
2:45 Mates Vineyard 1st harvest
3:00 Mates Vineyard
3:10 Mendoza clone Chardonnay
3:22 Lyre trellising
3:45 Leafroll virus
3:55 2024 vintage
4:36 Hen and chick berries
5:05 Moderated temperatures
5:26 Harvest dates
5:45 Reduced yields
5:58 WINEMAKING - Hand picking and whole bunch pressing
6:20 Barrel-fermentation with indigenous yeasts
6:32 Oak type
6:54 Ageing in barrel with lees
7:14 TASTING - Appearance
7:44 Aromas
8:20 Palate
9:30 When to drink
9:45 Conclusions
10:35 Score
11:08 Closing remarks thanks and sign-off

▶️Follow this link to view a playlist of Kumeu River's 2024 Chardonnays:    • Tasting Kumeu River's 2024 Chardonnays  

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