Kumeu River: The Kiwi Dream
BY REBECCA GIBB MW |
It’s been 80 years since the Brajkovich family bought a block of land in the Kumeu village. They were one of many Dalmatian families that left their homeland in the Austro-Hungarian empire in search of a new life in west Auckland. Scrimping and saving on the Kauri gum fields to the north and working in local vineyards, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, with their son Maté Brajkovich, paid the deposit to start their Kiwi dream in 1944.
In 2024, the family name is not just known in West Auckland, nor is it just a memory of a family that left its home village. Kumeu River is known in Sydney, New York, London, Tokyo and beyond. Their humble dream of growing grapes, strawberries and pumpkins in a land far away from their coastal village in what is now Croatia has been far exceeded, and they have become a globally recognized wine producer in the past 40 years.
Today,
Kumeu River stands as tall as its 6’ 4” winemaker, Michael Brajkovic. Leading
the direction of its wines, Brajkovic has specialized and gained Kumeu notoriety
for its array of Chardonnays, particularly its three single vineyards: Coddington,
Hunting Hill and Maté’s. The latter is a tribute to Maté Brajkovic, Michael and
Paul’s father, who passed away in 1992 at the age of 66, leaving Michael, who
had become New Zealand’s first Master of Wine a year earlier, to forge the
family’s winemaking direction, while brother Paul is the marketing director, focusing
on securing Kumeu River in the international market.
Maté Brajkovic couldn’t have left his winery in better hands. But then again, the elder Brajkovic had been preparing his four children for succession from an early age, working in the winery, on the bottling line, and even helping sell on weekends to pass trade. Michael Brajkovic recalls standing on a box at age three, ready for the call from his father to switch a pump on and off.
This year, Michael Brajkovic, like his father before him, became a New Zealand Wine Fellow, the equivalent of the Hall of Fame. The MW is the country’s most respected Chardonnay producer and the man everyone looks at for guidance when it comes to this white variety. Brajkovic was at the top of the list of speakers at the inaugural gathering of the Marlborough Chardonnay producers seeking to elevate their offering in 2023.
