Cry me a River

Kumeu River 2005 Chardonnay (Kumeu) – The elephant in the room: there’s some obvious reduction at first opening (this wine is screwcapped by one of New Zealand’s most ardent advocates of widespread screwing…wait, that came out wrong). It completely disappears after about 15 minutes, though it’s replaced by a sulfurous, matchstick edginess. And then, there’s brilliant, sunrise-through-a-window acidity, brittle grapefruit, and a lot of primal, grapey rawness. This is structured and strikingly long, and though it lacks complexity now, I suspect time will bring some. Kumeu River remains one of New Zealand’s best producers of this often-insipid grape. (10/08)