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Buy any 6 bottles and save 5%. Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
Buy any 6 bottles and save 5%. Buy any 12 bottles and save 10% (excludes wines on offer). Free UK delivery on orders over £100. Tel: 02922 337454
2024 Village Chardonnay, Kumeu River Wine Republic

2025 Village Chardonnay, Kumeu River

Hawke's Bay and Auckland, New Zealand

The Everyday Benchmark

Bright, expressive and effortlessly inviting, Kumeu River’s Village Chardonnay brings a touch of fine-wine refinement to everyday drinking. Lemon and lime lead the aromas, followed by white peach, crisp apple and a subtle hint of fig. A gentle cashew richness adds depth, while flinty, shell-like notes give the fruit a savoury edge. Oak stays discreetly in the background, allowing the wine’s freshness and clarity to take centre stage.

The palate is supple and silky, with enough creamy texture to feel generous and a lively citrus acidity that keeps everything light on its feet. Peach and apple flavours flow into a dry, refreshing finish, leaving a lingering mineral impression. Delicious as an aperitif and particularly at home alongside seafood, this is the sort of Chardonnay that earns a permanent place in the fridge. Ready to enjoy now, it also has the balance to hold comfortably over the next few years.

For when: An ordinary evening calls for a particularly good bottle.

Pairs with: Grilled prawns with lemon butter, crab linguine, pan-fried sea bass, roast chicken with tarragon, courgette and Parmesan risotto, or a smoked haddock fish pie.

Village Chardonnay offers an accessible introduction to the Brajkovich family’s style, combining fruit from Kumeu and Hawke’s Bay. In 2025, their limestone-grown Rays Road fruit accounts for 32% of the finished blend, adding a distinctive mineral edge.

The 2025 season delivered excellent fruit quality in both regions, bringing aromatic intensity and concentration to this approachable bottling. Its generous flavour is balanced by crisp acidity, making this an especially satisfying vintage for enjoying young.

Whats in the bottle
100% Chardonnay

Notable Awards
91 points, Wine Advocate

£17.95 - £17.95
£17.95
£17.95 - £17.95
£17.95
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Kumeu River was founded in 1944, when the Brajkovich family, originally from Croatia, purchased a small vineyard and winery northwest of Auckland. Over successive generations, they have established an international reputation for Chardonnay. Winemaker Michael Brajkovich, New Zealand’s first Master of Wine, has helped shape the precise, textured style that runs throughout the range.

The home vineyards in Kumeu benefit from a maritime climate and clay soils over sandstone, which retain enough moisture for cultivation without irrigation. The family’s Rays Road vineyard in Hawke’s Bay adds a different perspective, with an elevated limestone setting that brings particular freshness and mineral character to its fruit.

Careful vineyard management, indigenous yeast fermentation and thoughtful use of oak underpin the wines. The celebrated single-vineyard bottlings explore individual sites in detail, while Village Chardonnay brings the family’s experience to a more immediate, versatile style. It offers a persuasive introduction to the qualities that have made Kumeu River such a respected name.

Made from Chardonnay grown in Kumeu and Hawke’s Bay, contributing 42% and 58% respectively to the 2025 blend.

Fermentation uses indigenous yeasts, with 38% of the wine fermented in French oak barriques aged five years or more and 62% in stainless steel tanks. Full malolactic fermentation contributes to the supple texture.

The older barrels provide richness with very little overt oak flavour, while the tank-fermented component preserves the lively fruit. These elements are blended to balance texture with a clean citrus finish.

Alcohol: 13.3%. Vegan. Recommended drinking window: 2026–2030.

Wine-Searcher Retailer Awards 2026/27 Gold, Overall List in Cardiff