At last night’s New Zealand Wine Chardonnay Masterclass, hosted by NZ Wine Online at the Macleay St Bistro,  Kumeu River’s winemaker Michael Brajkovich began by acknowledging the contribution  of his mother, managing director Melba Brajkovich, to the business. At 75 Melba is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable women in New Zealand’s wine industry, still overseeing the management of a winery that was first founded by her late husband’s Croatian immigrant family in 1944.

Melba and her late husband Maté have also done an excellent job in nurturing the next generation to take over the business. Today their four children, Michael, Milan, Paul and Marijana, all work for Kumeu River in different capacities. Since the mid 1980s the siblings have focused on the winery’s strength –  high quality Burgundian style chardonnays.

Unless you’re new to New Zealand chardonnay, you could not help but be aware of Kumeu River’s reverered status as the leading producer of this variety. Sauvignon blanc and pinot noir may have led the way in establishing New Zealand’s reputation as one the New World’s leading wine producers, but the Kumeu River chardonnays have demonstrated that New Zealand can also create world-class chardonnays. And certainly at trade and press tastings Michael is not shy about comparing his wines to smart White Burgundies from illustrious producers like Domain Leflaive. Last night the elegant and complex Kumeu River 2009 Maté Vineyard Chardonnay did not disappoint when compared with the superbly balanced, richly textured 2009 Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru ‘La Maltroie’ Burgundy, which at $140 a bottle, is twice the price of the Maté!

The Maté Chardonnay is one of Kumeu Rivers three single vineyard bottlings, which also include the Coddington and Hunting Hill.

A vertical of the Coddington Vineyard Chardonnay was the third flight showcased … Read the rest

If you’re still in the ‘anything but chardonnay’ camp, a look at a few very fine examples of the new style of cool climate chardonnay from Australia and New Zealand are likely to change your mind!

As winemaker Andrew Pirie reminded the audience at the Tasmania Unbottled masterclass, chardonnay, the white  wine variety of Burgundy, is actually a cool-climate grape that can be very expressive of its terroir when sensitively handled in the vineyard and winery.

A recent tasting, organised by Single Vineyard Sellers and held at the White Rabbit Gallery in Sydney, provided ample evidence that chardonnay can create wines that are balanced, refreshing, complex and elegant.  At a chardonnay  masterclass, winemakers Paddy Borthwick of Paddy Borthwick Winery in Wairarapa, New Zealand, James Kellie of Harewood Estate in the Great Southern and Becca Duffy of Holm Oak in Tamar Ridge guided us through a comparative tasting of their most recent releases.

What was abundantly clear from their comments was that getting the best out of chardonnay from a cool climate is hard work, requiring deft handling both in the vineyard and the winery!

The Borthwick vineyard is located in Wairarapa,  just north of Martinborough at the southern end of the North Island. The chardonnay vines, a mix of four different clones, are around 15 years old. Here the rainfall is low and the free-draining, stony alluvial soils encourage the vines to dig deep for sufficient nutrients and water. Borthwick explained that a flock of sheep are let loose in the vineyard to pluck off the vine leaves so the grape clusters receive more sun exposure – a practice that in this cool, fairly dry climate encourages more flavour concentration in the grapes.

The Paddy Borthwick Chardonnay 2010 is a beautifully structured wine with complex aromas of nectarine and … Read the rest