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Buy OnlineThe Brajkovich family have carved out a reputation second to none for Chardonnay and every new release adds to that reputation.
The 2025 vintage is up there with one of the best ever for Kumeu River, however quantities are well down so our allocation is very limited. Now is your chance to access this world-class wine!
Lisa Perrotti-Brown MW, Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate
"If you can taste history, duty, and family pride in a glass, it’s there in the Kumeu River Chardonnays… now producing some of New Zealand’s greatest Chardonnays, not to mention the world’s."
Winery notes (2025 Vintage)
"This wine is produced from a vineyard owned by Tim and Angela Coddington, whose grapes have contributed to the blend of Kumeu River Estate Chardonnay since 1998. It is a vineyard that produces very rich and unctuous Chardonnay that we have long believed could make an excellent single vineyard wine. In 2006, we decided to give Coddington single vineyard status to reflect this vineyard’s unique character.
2025 was a remarkably dry harvest season. We started with the early Sparkling Wine varieties in perfect condition on 4 February. One week later we had 17mm, just before we commenced the table wine harvest. After that, it was pretty much dry all the way through the rest of Vintage on 17 March. This year we are particularly excited about the Chardonnay wines from both regions, and especially the Single Vineyard wines which are keenly typical of their sites."
Rated Outstanding & 97/100 Cameron Douglas MS, August 2026 (2025 Vintage)
"I love the whiff of earth-smoke, marl and friable soil then a fine lees complexity (hottest day 28 C, long and dry summer, lots of pristine and fine white fleshed fruits, citrus with a light creamy mouthfeel. Complex, pure and delicious, still a favourite with a Burgundian Meursault style or impression. Length, clean and long. Just fantastic and will age well."
Reviews for the 2024 vintage below…
97/100 & Top 100 New Zealand Wines of 2025, JamesSuckling.com (2024 Vintage)
"A complex and whole chardonnay with sliced apples, flint. limes and stones on the nose and palate. It’s medium-bodied with a solid core of fruit and a long and complete aftertaste."
96/100 Jaime Goode, WineAnorak.com, December 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"Bright, linear and lemony with some stone fruits, showing nice precision. Peach, apricot, some spicy notes and a taut acid line. Steely, with lemon the main focus but also showing some peachy richness."
95+/100 Gary Walsh, The Wine Front, August 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"White peach and nectarine, lime rind, aniseed, a slight matchstick character with light cinnamon and cedar oak. It’s energetic and zesty, lots of flint and chalkiness to texture, a youthful juiciness to fruit, though gee it has some energy and the finish is crisp and very long. Cool and tight, a little lemon peel in the aftertaste. Delightful."
94-96/100 Erin Larkin, RobertParker.com, June 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"The 2024 Coddington Chardonnay is alive on the palate with preserved lemon rind, tendrils of crushed shells and layers of brine. It is electric, in its way. There are salted and crushed nuts on the middle palate and length, which uncoils through the finish that allows a second and third look at the detail inherent within. This is very exciting and also creamy. It was tasted as a tank sample prior to filtration and bottling."
David Walker Bell, WineFolio.co.nz, July 2025 (2024 Vintage)
"Third wine to taste is the Coddington Chardonnay, which is comes from a north-facing sun trap of a vineyard about 3kms from the winery. I find this rich expression a little less attractive and having less drive than the first two. That ripe golden peach signature flavour is there, as usual, and a plush, textural quality. A spice and toast character (from the Gilet oak whose toasting is pretty heavy) compliments the ripeness in the fruit. This one does have immense approachability with the acidity keeping a balance across the palate. I know from the retrospective tastings that this wine does age well, but equally you could very easily be happy drinking this on release day."
