“Kumeu River somehow manages to make some of not just New Zealand’s but the world’s finest Chardonnay from vineyards in the Auckland suburbs.” – Jancis Robinson MW
Members will know the wines of Kumeu River by their stellar reputation and the occasional bottle included in a tasting, but this is the first time the Society has had a tasting hosted by the Brajkovich family. These are wines that not only represent fantastic value for money compared with white burgundy, but also frequently surpass the finest Chassagnes and Pulignys in blind tastings, and age beautifully and consistently. At a blind tasting in 2015, a panel composed of wine luminaries awarded Kumeu River wines first place across three of four flights against top white burgundies, despite costing between half to a quarter of their French counterparts. A subsequent vertical tasting in 2017 of twelve vintages of Kumeu River wines with an equally illustrious panel caused Jancis Robinson to begin her report on the tasting with the question, “Do we need white burgundy?”. In 2021, critic James Suckling awarded a perfect 100 point score to the 2020 Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay, which is only the second New Zealand wine to achieve that accolade.
At this tasting, we will be given a unique first sampling of Kumeu River’s 2022 vintage. Winemaker Michael Brajkovich MW is very excited by this vintage: “the excellent 2022 vintage came on the heels of three others, in a magnificent chain of four superb quality harvests.” We will also have the opportunity to taste older vintages, to see just how well these wines age. Kumeu River does not just produce chardonnay: we will begin the evening by sampling their NV Cremant Rose and two of their excellent Pinot Noirs.
Kumeu River is very much a family business, and we are delighted to be joined by Kumeu River’s Marketing Director, Paul Brajkovich, who will lead the tasting.
The wines we will be tasting are as follows:
Kumeu River Cremant Rose
2020 Hunting Hill Pinot Noir
2019 Rays Road Pinot Noir
2022 Rays Road Chardonnay
2022 Coddington Chardonnay
2022 Hunting Hill Chardonnay
2014 Hunting Hill Chardonnay
2022 Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay
2014 Mate’s Vineyard Chardonnay
Member tickets are £60 and guest tickets are £70. If you are using the Society's website to purchase tickets for the first time, you are encouraged to register so as to make future ticket purchases even easier.
If you have any questions, please contact the organiser, Andrew Denny, on andrew.l.denny@icloud.com or Duncan Holden on duncanandliz@btinternet.com