World's Greatest Chardonnay? Made here in Auckland!
World's Greatest Chardonnay? Made here in Auckland!
Hi from Jeff,
Most New Zealand wine lovers, more particularly Chardonnay lovers, are blissfully unaware that we make some of the world's greatest Chardonnay and that our prices on a world measure, are decidedly low by comparison to the quality we deliver!
For 15 years+ Fine Wine Delivery Co. (FWD Co.) have championed Kumeu River as NZ's greatest Chardonnay producer and their single vineyard Maté's as our greatest single Chardonnay. More recently on the international stage, Kumeu River Chardonnays led by Maté's have been redefining world order and receiving unbridled praise from the world's finest critics. In recent vintages Maté's was one of only 10 Chardonnays globally to be scored 95+/100 by Robert Parker's Wine Advocate. The other 9 being French white Burgundies selling variously above $500/bottle. In May 2015 noted UK fine wine merchant Farr Vintners, gathered the most esteemed wine critics in the world (Jancis Robinson MW – Wine Advocate – Wine Spectator – Decanter – Neil Martin – Matthew Jukes and others) under their roof to conduct a blind tasting (the wines are served blind so judging cannot be influenced by anything other than quality) of Kumeu River's quartet of fine Chardonnays against 4 corresponding flights of white Burgundies, whose prices ranged from 3 to 7 times that of their NZ contemporaries. Kumeu River astonishingly won all 4 flights. It's akin to winning 4 gold medals at the Olympics. Regrettably the NZ media did not pick up on this important global wine success for NZ and for Kumeu River. In addition, Wine Advocate (world's no.1 wine reviewer) last year released their Top 50 wines of 2015 (from over 30,000 wines tasted) and Kumeu River Maté's 2014 was No.5 on that list.
I could unearth other significant international accolades for Kumeu River Chardonnays, but I don't have the column space to fit it in and by now you'll be convinced their Chardonnays are at the cutting edge of world quality, but conversely at the very low end of world pricing. I'm not sure how long they can sustain such low pricing as international demand is rapidly increasing, which will inevitably force their modest prices up. At the Farr Vintners blind tasting, Maté's 2012 beat 4 leading French white Burgundies priced variously from NZ$180 to NZ$450/bottle, not bad for a home grown and made Kiwi Chardonnay that you can buy from FWD co. for just $66.99/bottle. We have received our allocation of the exciting 2015 Maté's and after taking care of our growing list of regular collectors, I have set aside 10 dozen for our Constellation Drive store to take care of our North Shore and West Auckland customers who shop there. This is a wine with amazing age ability, it is equivalent in quality and similar in style to Grand Cru Mersault, the heavyweight of the fine French white Burgundies. Are you a serious Chardonnay drinker? If the answer is yes, then get into FWD Co. Constellation Drive SuperStore or call them on 0800 346 394 and become the proud and privileged owner of one of the world's greatest Chardonnays and greatest Chardonnay buys!
