Michael Brajkovich MW of Kumeu River. Kumeu River Wines

Wine drinkers may argue about whether a wine deserves iconic status but few would dispute that Michael Brajkovich MW is a truly iconic winemaker. Michael graduated from Roseworthy College as Dux in 1981.

Returning to his family’s winery, Kumeu River, he rapidly developed an enviable international reputation for his wines, particularly the quality of his Kumeu Chardonnay. In 1989 Michael became the first New Zealander to earn the Master of Wine qualification. Michael has a distinguished record as a wine show judge both nationally and internationally.

Bob Campbell MW: A number of people have said to me over the years, “If Michael can make such good chardonnay from Kumeu grapes imagine what he could do with top fruit from Hawke’s Bay”. You recently purchased a high-altitude vineyard in Hawke’s Bay, so I guess we’ll soon find out. Where will the new chardonnay sit in your product range?

Michael Brajkovich MW: For many years all of our wines came from vineyards in Kumeu. That changed in 2015 when we started purchasing chardonnay grapes in Hawke’s Bay for our increasingly popular Kumeu Village Chardonnay. We looked to expand our own vineyard holdings in chardonnay, but that proved impossible to do in Kumeu because land prices have become ridiculous for grape-growing. So we looked elsewhere and were very fortunate that our search coincided with a unique property in Hawke’s Bay coming onto the market.

We learnt that a hill-country vineyard in Rays Road, Raukawa, owned by Trinity Hill, was up for sale. We knew a little of the history of this property already in that it was originally developed in conjunction with Pascal Jolivet, a winemaker from Sancerre in France, who was particularly enthusiastic about the potential for growing sauvignon blanc there. With its limestone base and wind-blown clay loess topsoil, it seemed an ideal location not only for the flinty style of sauvignon blanc that the Loire is famous for, but also for pinot noir and chardonnay. Trinity Hill planted all three varieties, but with a heavy emphasis on sauvignon blanc, and the early results were very good indeed.

We completed the vineyard purchase in April 2017. Since then we have had two harvests, and are very excited with the wines we have produced so far, and also with the future potential for quality wines, particularly from chardonnay and pinot noir.

This site is far from the mainstream areas of vine-growing in Hawke’s Bay. At an altitude of 180-200m, it is considerably more elevated than the rest of the Heretaunga plains geographical region that makes up the bulk of the Hawke’s Bay’s vineyards. It is slightly cooler and later-ripening, and the limestone subsoil really gives the wines a zesty character that we don’t find elsewhere. It is also very well-suited to the early-ripening varieties such as chardonnay and pinot noir, rather than the late-season red varieties like syrah and cabernet sauvignon which require much more heat to ripen them.

The 2018 Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay is quite a departure from our Kumeu wines. The limestone soil gives this wine a unique fingerprint that we haven’t experienced before. The final blend consists of two picking dates, 10 days apart, has given a wine of youthful vibrancy, but also with richness and texture. It is a single vineyard wine of quality and unique personality, and we have priced it at NZD $40.00. The 2018 Kumeu River Rays Road Pinot Noir is also priced at NZD $40.00, and the 2018 Kumeu River Sauvignon Blanc (sourced from Rays Road but not labelled as such) is NZD $25.00.

BC: There has been quite a shift in the style of New Zealand chardonnay over the past decade or so. Has the Kumeu style changed in that time and do you lead or follow the market?

MB: There has certainly been a shift in chardonnay style, and we like to think we have been at the leading edge of that gradual change. One of the main differences these days has been much less apparent malolactic character. In about 2004 we became aware of how the diacetyl by-product, which causes butteriness, can decline in wine due to yeast activity. Not only will the yeast fermentation remove the diacetyl, but dead yeast cells are also capable of consuming it. We changed our procedures to allow extended maturation on the yeast lees in barrel, well past the end of malolactic, and in so doing diminished the butter character almost completely.

Our chardonnay wines have always been slightly reductive in character (especially Hunting Hill) because of how we clarify the juice by simple racking and taking some of the grape solids into the fermentation. This technique became very popular with winemakers both here and in Australia. But, true to the new world adage that if a little bit of something is good, then a whole lot must be great, things went to extremes. Our wines have not changed in this regard, they have the same low-level reduction that they have had for many years. We have certainly not pursued the technique of full-solids fermentation, which maximises this effect, because we believe it also unbalances the wine.

BC: Your highly publicised success against a strong field of top white burgundies in the UK formed the central theme of the recently released film A Seat at the Table. Has the tasting at Farr Vintners had a positive effect on sales?

MB: It was in May 2015 that my brother Paul went to London for a unique tasting at Farr Vintners, one of our greatest supporters over the last 25 years. Having often served our wines blind to top tasters over the years only to be identified as coming from Burgundy, they thought it would be interesting to show a range of our wines against some top-flight White Burgundy, and to taste them blind.

In the four flights of wine tasted (5 wines each) our wine came outright winner in three of the flights, and first equal in the fourth. The publicity generated was amazing, and the sales that ensued in that year, and for every vintage since, have been outstanding. The Estate Chardonnay, and the Coddington, Hunting Hill and Maté’s Vineyard single-vineyard wines now all have to be allocated to the various international markets.