"97/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com
The 2025 Maté's Vineyard Chardonnay is powerful and nutty, with ripe orchard fruit. There are also notes of white pepper, pressed linen, green apple, chamomile and salted cashews. The palate is predictably powerful and unbelievably concentrated, with depth and length that feels interminable. This is an exceptional release of Maté's, one you should make every effort to taste. These wines age so well; don't acquire them with the expectation that they must be consumed soon. They have a decades-long future ahead, if only you have the patience. Drink 2026 - 2045."
In 1990, Maté Brajkovich reworked the land and planted a new vineyard of Chardonnay vines on the site of the original vineyard that he and his family purchased in March 1944. The first grapes from this vineyard were harvested in March 1993, the year following Maté’s death. The resulting wine was released in November 1994 to coincide with celebrations marking the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Brajkovich Family’s arrival at Kumeu River.
