Kumeu River Wines

Kumeu River's story begins on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, in the small fishing and farming village of Zivogosce on the Makarska Riviera, where Mick and Kate Brajkovich farmed small plots, tended vines, and made wine for family use. In 1937 they emigrated to New Zealand, joining the wave of Dalmatian families who had settled in northland from the late nineteenth century onward to work the kauri gum fields, the dried tree resin that fuelled an export industry into the early twentieth century. After several years in the gum trade the Brajkoviches moved south to Henderson, in west Auckland, then the centre of Croatian-led winegrowing in New Zealand, where Mick, Kate, and their young son Mate worked in local vineyards and orchards. By 1944 they had saved enough to purchase a small Kumeu property with vines already in the ground, 30 km north-west of central Auckland, and the family business began. Mick died in 1949, leaving Kate and the teenaged Mate to run what was then known as San Marino Vineyards. Mate married Melba, herself of Croatian descent, in 1957, and the couple raised four children, Michael, Marijana, Milan, and Paul, who all eventually returned to work in the family winery. The decisive turning point came in 1983, when Mate spent the vintage with Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne, on the right bank of Bordeaux; the experience reset the family's direction toward fine, dry, varietal wine and led to the 1986 launch of the Kumeu River label. Mate Brajkovich died in 1992, the year before his sons released the first Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay (1993) in his memory.

• Mick and Kate Brajkovich emigrated from Zivogosce on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia in 1937, working the northland kauri gum fields and then Henderson vineyards before purchasing the Kumeu property in 1944
• Operated as San Marino Vineyards from 1944 until 1986; Mate Brajkovich relaunched the operation under the Kumeu River label after his 1983 vintage with Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne, near Bordeaux
• Mate Brajkovich died in 1992; the flagship single-vineyard Chardonnay Mate's Vineyard, first vintage 1993, is named for him by his sons and widow
• Fourth generation of the family active in the business: Michael (winemaker), Milan (viticulturist), Marijana (finance), and Paul (sales and marketing) Brajkovich

Kumeu River produces a tightly defined, five-tier Chardonnay range that has become the most internationally recognised expression of New Zealand white wine. Mate's Vineyard, planted in 1990 across 2.6 hectares of heavy clay loam, first released from the 1993 vintage and named in memory of the founder, is the most concentrated and powerful wine in the portfolio, with deep stone fruit, oatmeal, and citrus oils framed by full malolactic fermentation and extended lees ageing in French oak. Hunting Hill, released from 2006, comes from a contiguous hillside parcel replanted with newer clones in 2000; named for the rabbit-and-pheasant slopes Mate Brajkovich hunted for the home kitchen, it is the more steely, mineral, and ageworthy bottling in blind side-by-side flights. Coddington, also released from 2006, is a 2.4-hectare block of heavyweight clay farmed by Tim and Angela Coddington that produced grapes for Kumeu River blends from 1998 onward before being elevated to its own cuvee; it is fleshier, more opulent, and produced in scarcer volumes (around 900 cases annually). Below those three sits the Estate Chardonnay, blended from across the Kumeu vineyards, and the Village Chardonnay, the entry tier that nonetheless uses hand-harvested fruit, wild-yeast fermentation, and extended lees contact in older French oak. Rays Road Chardonnay from the Hawke's Bay limestone hillside acquired in 2017 completes the line. The portfolio also includes a small Pinot Noir programme (Estate, Hunting Hill, Rays Road, and Village), Pinot Gris, and methode traditionnelle sparkling under the Mate's Sparkling label.

• Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay: flagship single vineyard, 2.6 ha planted 1990, first released 1993; the most concentrated and powerful Kumeu River wine, named for founder Mate Brajkovich
• Hunting Hill Chardonnay: contiguous hillside parcel replanted from 2000, first released 2006; the steely, mineral, longest-ageing of the single vineyards
• Coddington Chardonnay: 2.4 ha clay block farmed by Tim and Angela Coddington, fruit purchased from 1998 and bottled as a single vineyard from 2006; around 900 cases per year of fleshy, generous Chardonnay
• Estate and Village Chardonnay tiers below the single-vineyard wines; Rays Road Chardonnay from the Hawke's Bay limestone vineyard acquired 2017 sits alongside as a regional single vineyard

Kumeu sits in the Auckland wine region on the western edge of New Zealand's North Island, approximately 30 km north-west of central Auckland and roughly midway between the Tasman Sea (about 20 km west) and the Pacific Ocean (about 30 km east); the Waitakere Ranges to the south west moderate temperature and dampen extremes. The estate vineyards lie on rolling hills of heavy, deep clay-loam that cracks in dry summers, with sandstone beneath; the heavy clay holds enough moisture that the vines are dry-farmed without irrigation through the warm North Island summer. Climatically Kumeu is significantly warmer than Burgundy's Cote d'Or in Heat Summation terms but cooler than most of Auckland's east-facing districts, with humid maritime air, occasional cyclonic rain events, and a longer ripening tail that allows late, slow accumulation of physiological maturity at moderate sugars. The combination of warm-temperate light, maritime moderation, and water-retentive clay over sandstone produces Chardonnay with substantial palate weight and ripe orchard fruit alongside the structural acidity needed for cellaring. The Hawke's Bay Rays Road site, by contrast, is a 180 m limestone hillside in the Raukawa sub-region on the inland side of the Heretaunga Plains; it is cooler, more elevated, and more limestone-rich than the home estate, and provides the marker terroir for Kumeu River's single-vineyard Pinot Noir programme. All Kumeu vineyards are Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand certified.

• Kumeu estate vineyards on heavy clay-loam over sandstone, dry-farmed without irrigation; 30 km north-west of central Auckland, moderated by the Tasman Sea (20 km west) and Pacific Ocean (30 km east)
• Warm-temperate humid maritime climate significantly warmer than Burgundy but moderated by sea and the Waitakere Ranges; long ripening tail allows physiological maturity at moderate sugar
• Mate's Vineyard 2.6 ha planted 1990; Hunting Hill replanted from 2000; Coddington 2.4 ha clay block farmed by the Coddington family since 1998
• Rays Road, Hawke's Bay: limestone hillside at around 180 m elevation in the Raukawa sub-region, acquired in full 2017; cooler, more mineral site for single-vineyard Pinot Noir and Chardonnay

Michael Brajkovich, eldest of Mate and Melba's four children, completed a Bachelor of Applied Science in Oenology at Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia, graduating dux of the college in 1981, and spent the 1983 vintage with Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne. In 1989 he sat and passed the Institute of Masters of Wine examination in London, becoming the first New Zealander to earn the MW title; his MW dissertation focused on indigenous yeast fermentation in Chardonnay, the technique that has defined Kumeu River style ever since. Under Michael's winemaking and his brother Milan's viticulture, the estate has earned an exceptional run of international recognition. In 2015 Farr Vintners of London staged a now famous blind tasting that pitted the four Kumeu River Chardonnays against vintage-matched premier cru and village white Burgundies from Domaine Leflaive, Domaine des Comtes Lafon, Etienne Sauzet, Joseph Drouhin, Vincent Girardin, and Michel Niellon; the tasting panel, which included Jancis Robinson MW, Derek Smedley MW, Neal Martin of The Wine Advocate, Matthew Jukes, Tina Gellie of Decanter, Jamie Goode, and Will Lyons of the Wall Street Journal, awarded Kumeu River clear wins in three flights and a tie in the fourth. Kumeu River Chardonnays have also appeared on Wine Spectator and Decanter year-end lists, drawn long retrospective coverage from Jasper Morris MW (Inside Burgundy) and Jancis Robinson, and earned multiple 95+ point ratings from James Suckling. In 2024 the Institute of Masters of Wine named Michael Brajkovich the Winemakers' Winemaker at ProWein in Dusseldorf, and the same year New Zealand Winegrowers recognised him as a Fellow for services to winemaking.

• Michael Brajkovich graduated dux of Roseworthy College 1981, spent 1983 vintage with Jean-Pierre Moueix in Libourne, passed the MW examination in 1989 as New Zealand's first Master of Wine
• Pioneered indigenous yeast Chardonnay fermentation and the early use of screw cap closures in New Zealand fine wine; his MW dissertation focused on wild yeast in Chardonnay
• 2015 Farr Vintners blind tasting in London: Kumeu River won three flights outright and tied for first in the fourth against vintage-matched white Burgundy from Leflaive, Lafon, Sauzet, Drouhin, Girardin, and Niellon
• Michael Brajkovich MW named the Institute of Masters of Wine's 2024 Winemakers' Winemaker at ProWein, Dusseldorf, and recognised as a 2024 New Zealand Winegrowers Fellow