| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | New Zealand > Auckland |
| Colour | White |
| Type | Still |
The complexity and subtlety are most impressive, with honeysuckle, white flower, ripe pear, flint and vanilla bean aromas. Medium-bodied with a tight and phenolic texture and a long, tight finish. Lots of layered mouthfeel and complexity. Fantastic finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
The 2024 Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay is mouthfilling and full, easily the biggest and most powerful of the single-vineyard Chardonnays in this 2024 release. "In terms of quality, 2024 is up there with the best of them: 2022, 2020, 2014..." This feels perhaps as statuesque and thrilling as the best of the Maté's so far, with intensity that explodes in every direction on the palate—length and width—with spicy top notes and a thunderous base of yellow fruit. The acidity, as usual, coils and weaves its way across the palate, lacing together the fruit and phenolics with seamless intensity. This is very good.
Light yellow-gold in colour, this year's Mate's is impressively intense and complete on the nose already, with dried apricot, peach and poached pear meeting a touch of flint and some seductive but never dominant clove-like wood spice. The palate is plush, full-bodied and intense in texture and fruit. A glossy, mouthfilling wine, the fruit comes in waves, matching the tangy, harmonious and fresh acids. A wine that manages to be long and broad at once, it represents the two sides of Kumeu River perfectly. Concentrated and very long, with a full array of fruit from citrus to passion fruit, it is sumptuous, moreish and already delicious. It will doubtless age well for well over a decade. Impressive.
Full screwcapped bottle 1,349 g. From the Brajkovichs' Maté’s vineyard of 2.49 ha planted in 1990 but Maté died in 1992. Hand-harvested, whole-bunch pressed before 100% spontaneous fermentation in French oak barrels with 100% malo (30% new French oak: Mercurey and Séguin Moreau). 11 months' ageing in barrel. Virused. Their only Mendoza clone (though they are planting some virus-free Mendoza – which is still hen and chicken! – in Hawke's Bay).
Deepest straw colour. A bit more restrained on the nose and then big and rich on the palate. Lots of chew on the palate, too! Still youthful and without the refinement of Hunting Hill. Big and bold on the finish. Exuberant and quite chewy after that great whack of fruit. Drink 2026-2036.
Embryonic with taut, restrained aromas of apple, nectarine and a little white pepper. The palate is surprisingly dense and concentrated and whilst there isn’t much fruit showing at this stage, the textural grip, solid underpinning of new oak, and pithy, savoury notes create a beguiling wine. Builds in intensity to a long, sustained finish. Drink from 2032-2042. Tasted Aug 2025.
100% barrel fermentation in 30% new French oak, followed by 11 months maturation in barrel; 13.5% alc.
Maté Brajkovich’s family purchased this vineyard in 1944, and he reworked the land in 1990 (planting the Mendoza clone). The first grapes were harvested in 1993. As one might expect, knowing the legend of this wine, it is indeed super-closed, tense and introverted. The mid-palate is chewier and denser, yet it also exhibits more floral ripeness. Add to these beguiling ingredients stunning definition and great potential, and you have a benchmark Maté’s vintage.
