A thrilling chardonnay from New Zealand

Kumeu River trumped four of the biggest names in the wine world, says Matthew Jukes.

Matthew Jukes
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published
in Features

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2012 Kumeu River, Estate Chardonnay, Kumeu, North Island, New Zealand(£140 in bond per case of 12 bottles, £16.46 incl. VAT per bottle, Farr Vintners, 020-7821 2000, arrvintners.com).

I attended a very special tasting of chardonnays from the most famous producer of this grape in New Zealand at Farr Vintners' HQ the other day. Chairman Stephen Browett explained that he had been shipping wines from the Brajkovich family for decades and that, for him, they are some of the world's greatest white wines.I have been buying and recommending these wines since day one, too, but I have never tasted old bottles nor have I pitted them against great Burgundies.

After four flights of blind wines, each including very expensive and highly rated white Burgundies, with a Kumeu chardonnay hiding among the pack, the scores, from the great and the good of the industry, were collated.

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The Kumeu chardonnays won three out of four flights. My featured wine trumped four of the biggest names in the world! Finely balanced, elegant and built on a base of acidity, the chardonnays made at Kumeu River are all thrilling. Some very old bottles poured by owner Paul Brajkovich proved that they age well, too. I can highly recommend these wines with 2012 Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay (£220ib) and my featured Estate cuve.

Matthew Jukes is a winner of the International Wine & Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year (matthewjukes.com).

Matthew Jukes
Matthew Jukes

Matthew Jukes has worked in the UK wine business for well over three decades and during this time has written 14 wine books.  

Matthew regularly lectures, judges, speaks at wine conferences and runs masterclass tastings for both corporate and private clients all over the world. Matthew is also the creator of his ground-breaking initiative, the One Day Wine School, an indulgent day of tasting and learning first performed in 2006.

He has been the MoneyWeek wine correspondent since 2006 and has written a weekly column for the Daily Mail’s Weekend Magazine since 1999. His four highly-acclaimed, annual wine reports – the Burgundy En Primeur Report, the Bordeaux En Primeur Report, the Piemonte Report and the 100 Best Australian Wines – are published on his website, www.matthewjukes.com.

Matthew is one of the world’s leading experts on Australian wine and, with Brisbane-based wine writer Tyson Stelzer, runs an annual competition in Australia to find ‘The Great Australian Red’.  He was made Honorary Australian of the Year in the UK at the 2012 Australia Day Foundation Gala dinner. 

Matthew is a winner of the International Wine and Spirit Competition's Communicator of the Year Trophy.  His thoughts, recommendations and tastings notes are followed very closely by the wine world at large.

 

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