Review: Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay 2023

We’ve officially reached the critical ‘boxes of wine in the loungeroom’ level of wine capacity here at Australian Wine and Drinks Review HQ, which means I’m in ‘open everything mode’ for the next two weeks. This was a natural choice of wines to start with—anything Chardonnay with a Kumeu River is warmly received in this house.

This smells excellent. It’s just a delicious wine, if waaay too young and primal. Stepping back, I always admire the bold but refined mastery of Michael Brajkovich’s whites, which you just don’t expect from a vineyard in the northern Auckland semi-rural outskirts. Not an expensive wine for the technical class, either. Ripe citrus, figs, lightly toasty oak, and this fullness and proud Chardonnay stamp. It’s still a little banana cream eatery, but underneath, there is this fig and toasted cashew punch, then a tight, lemony, but not ungenerous finish. You can see the wet vintage (Kumeu had a giant downpour in late January 2023) as it’s a little leaner than the great vintages, but this is still a delicious wine.

THE VERDICT

• Best drinking: Good now, and greater in 2025, then it will for a decade no probs
• Score (out of 20): 18
• Score (out of 100): 93
• Alcohol %: 13
• RRP (in $AUD): 50
• Winery website: https://kumeuriver.co.nz/
• Would I buy it?: Sure would