2024 Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay, Kumeu River

Layered, statuesque and beautifully self-assured, the 2024 Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay feels like one of those wines that never needs to raise its voice. The nose is already wonderfully complete, opening with dried apricot, peach and poached pear, then deepening into flint, subtle clove spice and a gentle nutty richness. There is immediate generosity here, but it is the kind that arrives wrapped in precision, not weight. The palate is plush and mouthfilling, with yellow orchard fruit, fine citrus tension and a broad, seamless texture that somehow feels both expansive and finely drawn at once. Fresh acidity keeps everything lifted, while the finish lingers with calm authority, all stone fruit, spice and mineral poise. Fermentation with indigenous yeast and around 11 months in barrel, 30% new French oak, gives the wine its quiet polish without ever obscuring the fruit.

For when: the food is generous, the company is good, and the bottle needs to rise to the occasion.
Pairs with: roast chicken, lobster, turbot, or rich mushroom dishes with cream and thyme.
If this wine were a sound: a slow, low note that fills the room without ever needing to shout.

Maté’s Vineyard is Kumeu River’s most celebrated Chardonnay site, planted in 1990 and named after Maté Brajkovich, whose father, Mick, established the family’s original vineyard in Kumeu in 1944. The site sits on clay soils over sandstone, a combination that helps deliver the density, concentration and length for which this wine is known. In 2024, Kumeu River itself described the vintage as one of its strongest in recent years, and recent critics have been equally enthusiastic, with Wine Enthusiast awarding 97 points and noting the wine’s quiet power and age-worthy structure.