Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay, Kumeu River 2017

The 2017 Mate's Vineyard Chardonnay shows that this wine needs time to come into its own. All the rambunctious energy and barely bridled power of the wine on release and close to it is harnessed by time. It shows a previously bucking brumby to be a purebred stallion, one made for speed and endurance. Excellent. It remains savory, the depth of complexity only deepening with time. I love this as much as I love the Hunting Hill—that wine being restrained and composed, this being a fete of power and concentration.

The mineral character of this wine is currently so pronounced and the fruit so closed that it’s not easy, also because of the slight funk from reduction, to identify the grape variety. On the palate, this marathon-runner chardonnay is very clean and highly structured with lots of drive, the finish very long and complex. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

The 2017 Maté’s Vineyard Chardonnay has a really beautiful, quixotic bouquet of apricot blossom, white peach, minerals and dandelion scents that waft temptingly from the glass. The harmonious, lightly spiced palate is very well balanced with crisp acidity and a succinct, perfectly pitched finish that offers just the right amount of sapidity. Superb. Tasted at the Kumeu River Chardonnay vertical in London.