Kumeu River

Kumeu River Wines was established in 1937 by Mick and Katé Brajkovich, who took a massive gamble, emigrating from their Croatian village. And boy did it pay off for these true pioneers of Hawkes Bay and Auckland. The estate is globally recognised as the benchmark for non-Burgundy produced Chardonnay, and in a blind tasting they triumphed over some of the finest white Burgundies! So, discover the true essence of cool-climate New Zealand produce for yourself, where New World concentration meets Old World style and finesse.

Kumeu River Wines encompasses 30 hectares of vineyards, predominantly clay soils overlying a sandstone base. These soil types help are ideal in that they retain sufficient water at depth, even during the summer months, to ensure the deep vine roots continue to hydrate the vine without excessive vigour. Therefore, the vineyard doesn’t require irrigation, a factor that is critical to the quality of Kumeu River’s grapes.

One of the distinguishing factors of Kumeu River’s wines is all of the grapes are harvested by hand so sub-standard grapes are removed resulting in a net yield of purely high-quality grapes.