Behind the Top Drops: Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay

Behind the Top Drops

Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay

Kumeu River, based just northwest of Auckland, is regarded as one of New Zealand’s, if not the world’s, best Chardonnay producers. Sitting at the apex of Kumeu River’s single vineyard Chardonnay offerings is Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay, closely followed by the Hunting Hill Chardonnay. Sonya Logan pressed Kumeu River’s winemaker and New Zealand’s first Master of Wine Michael Brajkovich to find out more about this wine whose distinctive almost Riesling-like characters inspired its release.

Briefly tell us the Kumeu River story: Kumeu River Wines was established in 1944 when Mick and Katé Brajkovich and their son Maté first came to the small country settlement of Kumeu, about 20 kilometres northwest of Auckland City. The family had migrated from Dalmatia in 1938 and had been working in the far northern part of New Zealand digging kauri gum. After moving to Henderson, in West Auckland, in the early 1940s, they worked on vineyards and orchards in the area and saved enough money to buy a property with a small existing vineyard at Kumeu.

Mick Brajkovich died in 1949, but Maté and Katé continued to tend the vines, make the wine and build the reputation of the fledgling wine company that became known as ‘San Marino Vineyards’. In 1958 Maté married Melba Sutich from Dargaville, whose antecedents also came from the Dalmatian coast and who gave up a school-teaching career to become Maté’s working partner. Their four children — Michael, Marijana, Milan and Paul — were born during the 1960s. From a very early age they all became involved in the family business, helping their parents with odd-jobs in the vineyard and the winery, and assisting

Kumeu River’s longstanding cellar master Nigel Tibbits with winemaker Michael Brajkovich.

in the winery cellar door. Following the move towards high quality table wines in the 1980s made from varieties such as Chardonnay, Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Merlot from newly developed vineyards in Kumeu, the ‘San Marino Vineyards’ became ‘Kumeu River Wines’ in 1986 to reflect this change. Melba remains a much-loved fixture at the winery while I look after wine production, my brother Milan is in charge of the vineyards and engineering, my sister Marijana takes care of the finances and marketing, and my other brother Paul is responsible for sales and exports. Even though a long way north compared to other New Zealand wine regions, Kumeu is still very much a cool viticultural region because of the proximity of the oceans. The Tasman Sea is only 13km away, and it’s 21km to the Pacific Ocean. These large bodies of water moderate the climate so we rarely reach 30°C each summer — for a day or two only. Rainfall is significant at about 1200mm, and the cloud cover consistent to keep temperatures low and acidity high. The soils are predominantly clay over sandstone. Their water-holding capacity, paired with the regular rainfall, means that no irrigation is necessary.

What inspired the creation of the Hunting Hill Chardonnay? Initially this vineyard was a source for our Kumeu River Chardonnay, which started to show very successfully from 1987 onwards. The onset of a severe infection of leafroll virus caused us to replant in 2001 with the UCD15 clone grafted on low-vigour rootstock. Since then, this vineyard has been free of virus. Immediately after replanting the early vintages in 2003, 2004 and 2005 showed that the fruit quality was outstanding. The wine was showing some real class, with very vibrant lemon/lime notes and white flowers on the nose, generous texture on the palate, followed by bracing acidity and mineral elements on the finish. It was almost like Riesling! This was the reason we decided to separate Hunting Hill out as a single vineyard release from the 2006

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vintage, released in mid-2007, and it has justified that decision every vintage since.

Tell us about the Hunting Hill vineyard? The name derives from the frequent shooting that our father Maté used to do on the property, mainly pheasants and ducks, but also rabbits. The vineyard was first developed in the early 1980s and planted to Cabernet Franc, Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. After some early success, the Cabernet Franc succumbed to severe leafroll virus, as did the Chardonnay. We decided early on that Sauvignon Blanc was a weed and we would be much better off with Chardonnay, which led to the 2001 replant. At the same time we planted Pinot Noir on one side of the Hunting Hill vineyard, which was only just pulled out in 2022 to make way for more Chardonnay. The current size of the vineyard is 3.4 hectares. It is planted at 3.4m x 1.2m spacing using the Lyre trellis design, inspired by the canopy management research of Dr Richard Smart and Dr Alain Carbonneau.

Each vine row has two curtains or canopies of foliage, angled away from each other at about 8° from vertical. The separation at the top of the two canopies is 1.4m.

Soil management is by way of a permanent grass sward (sod culture), which helps to reduce vine vigour induced by the relatively high rainfall. The vineyard is managed by my brother Milan, working closely with Mark Wuthrich.

Do the same vines in the vineyard usually provide the fruit for the Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay or can that change from year to year based on the vintage? The Hunting Hill vineyard is only used for the Hunting Hill Chardonnay wine, and we have produced this wine every vintage since 2006.

How are those vines managed? The vines are now more than 20 years old. Being virus-free means that the grapes ripen early each year, and Hunting Hill is always the first Chardonnay vineyard to be picked. Cane pruning is used exclusively. The shoots are positioned by hand, and shoot trimming is practised using a trimming machine that can reach into the trellis and cut all three sides of each of the two canopies. Mechanical leaf plucking is carried out just before flowering, followed by a more precise hand finish. Leaf removal is not complete or drastic, just enough to allow the clusters to see the sky and get the right balance of diffuse light, without excessive exposure to direct sunlight. Harvesting is exclusively by hand, with careful triage in the vineyard so that the 450kg bins of grapes that arrive at the winery are in beautiful condition.

The Hunting Hill vineyard, trained to a Lyre trellis system, is managed by Milan Brajkovich and Mark Wuthrich

What is the average yield from the vines that go into the Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay? 6-8 tonnes/ha

Describe the winemaking process that brings the wine to fruition? Hand-harvested grapes are wholebunch pressed using 3 x 40hL pneumatic Willmes presses. The juice is settled at 12°C overnight using one settling tank per press-load, and then racked into a holding tank. Solids account for only 0.51% of the juice volume. The barrels are filled from the holding tank, which is frequently agitated by hand to achieve a fairly even distribution of the remaining juice solids. We use Francois Frères very-tight grain Burgundy barrels, with a mixture of heavy and medium+ toasting levels, and about 25% new oak. Spontaneous alcoholic fermentation proceeds after a few days of lag phase, using native yeast that have come in on the grapes. When fermentation starts the yeasts are given a couple of doses of pure oxygen to assist in yeast multiplication and the improvement of cell wall integrity. Fermentation temperatures peak at 23-24°C. After achieving dryness, which can take a few weeks to a couple of months, malolactic fermentation is encouraged. We do some inoculation of

Chardonnay from Hunting Hill vineyard is exclusively harvested by hand to ensure the grapes that arrive at the winery are in pristine condition.

Ripening Chardonnay grapes in the Hunting Hill vineyard.

selected bacteria, but also expect some spontaneous MLF to occur too. Whatever is doing well is used to further crossinoculate barrels. When the MLF is complete, the barrels are left to rest for a few weeks before being dosed with sulfur dioxide at a rate of 50-60mg/L.

Has the winemaking changed much over the years? Our Chardonnay production technique for Kumeu River has evolved gradually over 40 years, guided by myself and winemaker Nigel Tibbits. I started winemaking at Kumeu in 1982, and Nigel has been here since 1974. By the time of the introduction of Hunting Hill Chardonnay in 2006, this technique was already pretty settled. The major change that occurred, however, just before the first release of Hunting Hill, was our complete conversion to screwcaps in 2001. This has resulted in a massive improvement in overall quality and consistency, and enhanced our confidence in the ability of this wine to age correctly and gracefully.

Has the style of the Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay evolved since the inaugural release? The style has remained very consistent, with the only variable being vintage variation.

Biggest challenge in making this wine? Most years this wine is simply a dream to harvest and make. There have been some difficult vintages, however, so careful triage has been very important. It is thanks to the diligence of our harvesting crew that we have still been able to make outstanding wines under these more trying conditions.

What’s the recommended retail price of the Hunting Hill Chardonnay, approximately how much is produced each year, and where is it sold? AU$99.99 (Dan Murphy’s). About 14001500 12-bottle cases (12 bottle) are made each year which are sold in numerous markets: New Zealand, Australia, USA, UK, Denmark, France, Sweden, Spain, Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Germany, China.

What are the ageing recommendations for the wine?

The wine will last at least 10 years in bottle, but shows very well in the 4-6 year window.

Most notable accolades?

Over the years Hunting Hill has been very highly rated by critics such as Jancis Robinson, James Suckling, Bob Campbell, Huon Hooke, Nick Stock, Vinous, Wine Advocate, NZ Winerater, Wine Spectator and Winefront.

Best vintages?

2007, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022.