KUMEU RIVER Wines-Kumeu-N.Z.-tasting report

[Attila]

Mick Brajkovich established "San Marino Vineyards" in 1944 in Kumeu, 20 km nothwest of Auckland. His son, Maté renamed the estate "Kumeu River Wines" in 1986 and a legend was born. The Brajkovich operation is heavily influenced by Burgundy, there is even a 'Clos' style stone wall in front of "Maté's Vineyard' to conmemorate Maté who passed away in 1992. Today Melba Brajkovich, Maté's wife runs the estate with her daughter and three sons. Nigel Tibbits is cellarmaster.

2002 KUMEU RIVER Village Chardonnay

This is the cheapest Chardonnay in the Kumeu River range. Grapes were hand picked from vineyards around 'Kumeu village', 25% of the wine was fermented in older french oak, the rest in stainless steel.
Colour bright clear with some pale gold. Striking feral nose that I can only describe as 'wet fox skin'. My father, who is a professional hunter, used to skin the foxes he shot, in the backyard when I was small and this smell reminded me of those times. People usually pay big money for burgundies to get these 'special scents'. Striking! The palate is medium bodied and extremely well balanced. Lovely long flavours of cool climate chardonnay and excellent fresh acid on the finish. A delicious wine that I liked a lot, especially at AU $22. Drink now to 2006.

2002 KUMEU RIVER Chardonnay

What a stunning wine! Grapes picked and carefully selected from five different Kumeu vineyard sites for this premium label.
Colour bright clear with some hay on the edges. Powerful mineral scents reminiscent of a good Chablis. Deeply scented nose of white nectarines and lemon. Restrained and powerful mineral palate of superb Chardonnay fruit. A top wine in definite Chablis style. It is beautifully rich with amazing complexity. Savoury long finish. Drink now to 2008. Cost AU $43 and so it should, this is top stuff. The super premium Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay was not available for tasting.

2002 KUMEU RIVER Village Pinot Noir

Colour bright cherry. Interesting nose of chargrilled plums. The palate is lightweight with some cherries and strawberry. A bistro style drink now wine that can be chilled. Dry and savoury with powerful long acid on the finish. This high intensity, mouthwatering acid I usually encounter in Australian rieslings. An OK red at AU $22.

2002 KUMEU RIVER Pinot Noir

A step up from the 'village'. Grapes harvested from vines planted in 1994-95. The wine was matured in small oak barrels. Colour cherry red. Hints of forest floor on the nose, restrained palate of savoury red berry flavours. Lacks richness and depth, length and focus. An OK wine but you'll find nothing outstanding here for your AU $43.

2000 KUMEU RIVER Melba

There was something special about tasting this wine in the company of Melba Brajkovich. She is an absolutely lovely lady of strength and character.
This is the third Melba release and according to the family, it's the best. A blend of 70% Merlot and 30% Malbec. Matured in oak barrels, 15% new. It was interesting for me to experience NZ grown Malbec as the benchmark for me for a new world Malbec blend always has been the LEASINGHAM Cabernet Malbec. In the 1996 blend (15% Malbec) the Malbec component provided HUGE black aromas, almost overpowering the 85% Cabernet.
Not so here. Old Bordeaux releases from the 1910's saw lot's of this grape and I can only imagine that they may have tasted something like this Melba.
Colour black cherry red. Ripe, plummy Merlot on the nose mixing with the savoury/spicy red berry characters of Malbec. The palate is medium bodied, very well balanced, velvety and harmonious. Fine tannins and lovely acid make this wine lovely drinking. Tasting delicious already, it can be cellared for an other 5-8 years with confidence. Cost AU $35 which is a fair price for this quality. It's different from any Australian Malbec blend style I've tasted.

Tasted:March 2004

[Gary W]

Yes. Tasted all these wines recently and with the exception of the chardonnay thought they were bloody awful...the pinots were particulary dire.

GW

[Attila]

Not so subtle comment from you Gary but probably straight to the point if you saw the wines that way.
Attila

[Gary W]

Have always like the Mate and Std Chard...but those pinots were thin, mean and sulphidic. Very poor value. Very poor wine. I was astounded by them.

GW

[Guest]

Agree...with Gary

The Mates is fantastic gear....

Dave

[Craig(NZ).]

cant say that anything but the chardy has excited me in the past and i have to question the ability of the chardy to cellar as well as some other nz chardy stars.

and compared to te mata elston its pretty expensive now

[Geoffrey]

The Kumeu Village Pinot Noir is an interesting wine as i it doesn't taste like a kiwi pinot. No full in your face fruit bomb more earthy european and as you described it Attila savoury. I first came across this wine last year at a New Zealand 2002 Pinot Noir tasting of which there was 49 other Kiwi Pinot Noirs. I enjoyed it for its difference as did the other 50 people there as when i went back to it later in the tasting all stock had been consumed, something that only happened to a few wines that evening. Its not a earth moving wine but at nz $17 good value.

While not a big fan of chardonnay as the over use of oak in most kiwi chards turns me away i do enjoy the Kumeu Villages 02, has very little oak flinty, minerally and tending to be a bit dry, chilled down a lovely causal drink on a hot evening, not a bad price point of nz$18. The 01 vintage of this wine was even better. The other kiwi Chardonnay i enjoy is the Daniel Schuster Petrie Vineyard (nz$35).
.
Good notes Attila and i always read with interest a non kiwis views of our wines.

Cheers
Geoffrey

[Gavin Trott]

Hello

Tried the Chardonnays at the recent NZ Wine Fair and must agree, lovely wines, enjoyed the 'Villages' Chardonnay much more than most local Chards at the same price.

Very impressive.

Gary, didn't try the Pinots.

[Gary W]

Village pinot faulty. Major sulphide problems. You could call that European if you like. You could call it Le Mans too I suppose as it smells like burning rubber. Call it what you will. I call it faulty.

GW

[michel]

Geez Gary
I am still shaking my head after the NZ wine show.
The Village Chard is good value.
The Village Pinot and to a lesser extent the Kumeu Pinot are DNPIM.
I did as was terrified and spat them out- dirty feral sulphur- I dont know but it was unpleasant.
michel

[Guest]

Attila,
this is still Michael Brajkovich MW's estate isn't it?
you haven't mentioned him as being involved anymore

[Guest]

2002 KUMEU RIVER Chardonnay

What a stunning wine! Grapes picked and carefully selected from five different Kumeu vineyard sites for this premium label.
Colour bright clear with some hay on the edges. Powerful mineral scents reminiscent of a good Chablis. Deeply scented nose of white nectarines and lemon. Restrained and powerful mineral palate of superb Chardonnay fruit. A top wine in definite Chablis style. It is beautifully rich with amazing complexity. Savoury long finish. Drink now to 2008. Cost AU $43 and so it should, this is top stuff. The super premium Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay was not available for tasting.

Chablis is defined often by notes of soil tones, and most importantly the rapier like acidity. Anything as rich as white nectarines doesn't sound very chablis like.

[Wizz]

Attila,
this is still Michael Brajkovich MW's estate isn't it?
you haven't mentioned him as being involved anymore

It is indeed, and he was behind the counter at the Brisbane leg of the NZ fair.

Cheers

Andrew

[Another Guest]

Very interesting.

The wine maker here is a qualified MW with a brilliant palate and is a likeable, intelligent person.

The chardonnays are normally excellent with freshness and balance and depth.

The 2002 pinot is unquestionably riddled with brett spoilage and is quite bizzare. It is not sulphide or earth, it is spoiled by this yeast.

So, how does a brilliant winemaker/palate end up with this result? The wine world is full of this type of stuff. How is the occasional great Vega Sicilia at $500.00+ dominated by volatile acid considered great? How is Ch. de Beaucastel considered great when dominated by brett but percieved as earthy and leathery?

I have no answers really.

But many fine wineries get it wrong sometimes as they experiment.

Very interesting!

[Phil Shorten]

Very interesting.

The wine maker here is a qualified MW with a brilliant palate and is a likeable, intelligent person.

The chardonnays are normally excellent with freshness and balance and depth.

The 2002 pinot is unquestionably riddled with brett spoilage and is quite bizzare. It is not sulphide or earth, it is spoiled by this yeast.

So, how does a brilliant winemaker/palate end up with this result? The wine world is full of this type of stuff. How is the occasional great Vega Sicilia at $500.00+ dominated by volatile acid considered great? How is Ch. de Beaucastel considered great when dominated by brett but percieved as earthy and leathery?

I have no answers really.

But many fine wineries get it wrong sometimes as they experiment.

Very interesting!

A. Guest

I like the Kumeu River Chardonnay and would agree that it is perhaps more Meursault-like with its richness than Chablis austerity/flinty minerality. I think it is one of the more "Burgundian" Chardonnays from Antipodean shores with genuine complexity - more my style than say the Felton Road Barrel Fermented (which I find to be brodering on the oaky Californian take on Pouilly Fuisse). It is also a very good value wine on the UK market. The only minor detraction is a touch of alcohol heat on the finish. I agree with comments that it is perhaps best drunk in the medium term, as I don't know that this rich style will keep too long.

I can't comment on the Pinots as I haven't tried them.

As to Vega Sicilia and Beaucastel, I think that the characters to which you refer are part of the style, albeit, on occaisions they can be excessive and possibly a fault. However, in small doses, brett can add a degree of complexity, just as VA (as long as it is not excessive) can make the wine more interesting, and great with food - garlicky roast lamb for example. These wines may not be 100% technically correct from a purists standpoint - indeed they are somewhat idiosyncratic given their respective vinifications - but this is what makes them different in a wine-world that is increasingly producing many wines that are very similar in style.

My two pennies worth!

Cheers
Phil

[Ed W]

cant say that anything but the chardy has excited me in the past and i have to question the ability of the chardy to cellar as well as some other nz chardy stars.

and compared to te mata elston its pretty expensive now

what's new craig? we all know you are all for Te Mata anyway

but then i am totally with you on this. what pay more if you can get one of the best examples of chardonnay, syrah and bordeaux blend from NZ for $30 and $50 year in year out.

ed

[Gary W]

Very interesting.

The wine maker here is a qualified MW with a brilliant palate and is a likeable, intelligent person.

The chardonnays are normally excellent with freshness and balance and depth.

The 2002 pinot is unquestionably riddled with brett spoilage and is quite bizzare. It is not sulphide or earth, it is spoiled by this yeast.

So, how does a brilliant winemaker/palate end up with this result? The wine world is full of this type of stuff. How is the occasional great Vega Sicilia at $500.00+ dominated by volatile acid considered great? How is Ch. de Beaucastel considered great when dominated by brett but percieved as earthy and leathery?

I have no answers really.

But many fine wineries get it wrong sometimes as they experiment.

Very interesting!

Dear Another Guest,
I agree with this. Especially the first statement about a talented winemaker. Brett or not I found the wine to have a dominant bunt rubber smell. Hence the sulphide comment. Quite frankly I was not that interested in investigating much further...but it had a sulphide problem whether you can smell it or now.
GW

[Attila]

Michael Brajkovich is an excellent winemaker, as you all know, he became Master of Wine in 1989, the very first Kiwi to do so. He worked in Burgundy and elsewhere, I've no doubt in my mind that he is very good. The future of Pinot Noir in Kumeu however is an other question. After tasting the chardonnays, no wonder most of you felt disappointed by the pinots as they simply didn't have the expected class and quality. I believe these are still early times for Kumeu River pinots and one day we'll see better examples.
Keep up the faith, I'm sure they're working hard on it.
Thanks Geoffrey (from NZ) for reading me.
Phil Shorten, very good observation with the Meursault comparison. I also believe that some producers in Chablis are heading towards somewhat different new styles now, hence my comparison to that region.
Gary W, there is no way a wine with fault would have not be shown at a tasting of this importance and scale. The pinot bottles were funky all right but not faulty in my opinion.
Cheers all,
Attila

[michel]

. The pinot bottles were funky all right but not faulty in my opinion.
Cheers all,
Attila

Attila,
I dont know if it was 'faulty' but it wasnt drinkable.
I am surprised they put their name on it - let alone show it to the public.
michel

[Guest]

I also believe that some producers in Chablis are heading towards somewhat different new styles now, hence my comparison to that region.

which ones are those?

[Attila]

Hi Michel,
I agree, some other producers would not have released these pinots under the main brand or would have sold on the finished wine to someone else for blending.
The risk however is great for Kumeu River and by the end of the year they'll know if they made the right decision or not.

Of the new style Chablis producers for Guest:

Jean Paul Droin 'Les Clos' Grand Cru with their richer oaked style and
Jean Collet-Montée de Tonnerre 1er Cru comes to mind. (At least for me)
Cheers,
Attila

[The Grey Ghost]

It's "tuppence" Phil, let us not let the language die.

The notes read to me of sulphide (rotten eggs, burnt rubber, boiled cabbage), not brett which is elastoplast (in one form) or wet dog (in another). Mind, these are subjective and I'll accept anyone's discriptors.

Let us face it ... there is NO need to have any sulphidic spoilage. I react badly to H2S and to its developed characteristics down the diethyl sulphide chain. It is also a characteristic that some winemakers are blind to (and good ones too Kevin Sobels couldn't see it to save himself). A simple copper trial. This is becoming even more important as Stelvin takes over, the H2S is not masked by the slight oaky character of a new cork.

Brett! Oh boy, is this going to be a problem in the future! People just won't accept this anymore. Hunter sweaty saddle we used to call it and it was often a factor in severe drainage clearance in Sydney. If you tipped it, the sewers were poluted; if you did drink it YOUR sewer was swept clean. We just didn't identify it as a problem.

It MAY be parto of the style ... but not a style I wish to drink.