2021 Kumeu River Chardonnay Mate's Vineyard
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Tasting notes
Aged for 11 months in French oak (30% new). Tasted blind. Banana, cream, pineapple. Fleshy and ripe. There’s an old-fashioned fruitiness here, but the finish delivers a crackle of sulphidic aromas. Very smart. (RH)
Critic scores
Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Clay and all Mendoza clone (small berries; ‘hen and chicken’ uneven fruit set). 30-year-old vines. 30% new oak from Seguin Moreau. Same vinification as the other single-vineyard Chardonnays. 1,500 cases. Savoury nose suggests a firm backbone. Really concentrated and richer than the Hunting Hill. Long and very youthful. For the moment, it’s a coiled spring with lots to chew on on the finish. Ideally it should be drunk at 9–10 years old but I suspect most of it is hoovered up long before that. (JR)
The 2021 Chardonnay Maté's Vineyard offers greater tension and sapidity compared with how the more relaxed 2020 did upon release. It will need time in bottle to shake off the rawness of youth. It is focused, concentrated and precise. There's sophisticated use of oak, which integrates seamlessly within the package. I got a cold the day after this was first opened, and almost a week later, when my senses returned, it remained impeccable, focused and compact.