Kumeu River Wines is one of New Zealand’s leading wineries, famed for producing rich and complex Chardonnays rivaling some of Burgundy best producers. Built from humble beginnings by Mick Brajkovitch, who, like many Dalmatians emigrated from Croatia to New Zealand in the early 1900’s to find work digging Kauri gum, a fossilised resin which was found in abundance near Auckland. After a brief return home, Mick moved to New Zealand permanently bringing with him his wife Katé and son Maté.
In 1944, the family acquired their first property with a small but substantial vineyard holding in Kumeu, located North West of Auckland naming it ‘San Marino Vineyards’. From living in Croatia, Mick and Katé had experience of agricultural work and tending vines, so from the start all members of the family were involved in the business. This is a tradition which has continued to the present day.
With several decades of steady development and growth, it was in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s with Maté at the helm when the winery became an established force on the New Zealand winemaking scene. The major change came in 1979 when the winery made a bold move to stop growing hybrids used for making basic red and white wines to varieties such as Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. Of course we all know these as common varieties today, however, at the time they were relatively unheard of. Another change which was implemented was the revision of the winery name with inspiration for this coming from the local area. In 1986 ‘Kumeu River Wines was born.
Within such a family-focused business, it was evident from an early age that Michael, one of four grandchildren, was going to be involved in the world of wine. He remembers how he would draw precise wine diagrams and discuss them with family around the dinner table; his aspirations were clear for all to see. Michael followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, benefitting from spending time with them in the vineyard before he went on to study and graduate from Roseworth College, South Australia with a Bachelor’s Degree in Oenology, coming top of his class. Always striving to learn more, Michael undertook the world renowned Masters of Wine programme and became the first New Zealand MW in 1989.
Never one to rest on his laurels and always looking to improve, Michael was one of the leading supporters as well as being chairman for a few years of the New Zealand Screwcap Initiative. The group’s main focus was the promotion of stelvin caps, a highly relevant and important issue for the winery after being faced with one case of unacceptably high levels of cork taint where an incredible 95% of a batch had been affected. Since 2001, the winery made a full transition to use stelvin caps on all wines.
Located 20km north-west of Auckland, the Kumeu River Wines has a combined total of 40 hectares under vine (30 are owned and the remaining 10 are purchased from growers), on predominantly clay based soils with an underlying sandstone base. This terroir like any other is of course unique to its geographical position, but most importantly it helps retain water at a certain depth to encourage the roots dig work harder. The most famous vineyards are Coddington and Mates’ which could both be compared to the Burgundian classification system of Premier Cru and Grand Cru respectfully, and produce wonderful, rich and creamy Chardonnays of the highest quality. Despite its northerly location, the influences of both the Tasmanian Sea and Pacific Ocean create a cool, Mediterranean climate which effectively helped influenced the aforementioned change in direction from hybrid varietals, toward early-ripening grapes such as Chardonnay, Pinot Gris and Pinot Noir.
On Thursday 23rd November 2017, we are delighted to announce ‘A Bon Coeur wine dinner with Kumeu River’. The evening will begin with a pre-dinner tasting and “walk through” the 2016 Chardonnay vintage followed by a four course dinner with paired wines held by head winemaker, Michael Brajkovich MW.
Tickets are £95 per person. For more information on this event, please click on the link below, email Andrew Ray at events@bcfw.co.uk or call us on 01325 776446.
