Kumeu River

Biographies

Maté Brajkovich

Maté Brajkovich was a prominent figure in the New Zealand wine industry. He was heavily involved in wine industry organizations throughout his life and served as chairman of the Wine Institute of New Zealand from 1982-1985. In 1987, Maté was made a Fellow of the Institute, and in 1990, he was the New Zealand patron at the New World Wine Auction held in South Africa.

Maté passed away in 1992, and Maté's Vineyard is now run by his wife Melba and their four children, Michael, Marijana, Milan and Paul.

Melba Brajkovich, Managing Director

Melba graduated from Teacher's Training College in 1957. After a year as a primary school teacher, Melba married Maté Brajkovich and gave up her teaching career to assist Maté in his fledgling wine business, then known as San Marino Vineyards. Melba looked after staff, sales and the accounting functions and was mainly responsible for administration of the business. Wine industry business often meant that Maté was absent from the winery, and it was up to Melba to fill the gap.

Since Maté's death in 1992, Melba has taken on the role of managing director at Kumeu River Wines and has overall responsibility for the vineyard and winery operations.

Michael Brajkovich, M.W., Winemaker

After studying oenology at Roseworthy College in South Australia where he was Dux in 1981, Michael returned to the family vineyard and winery in Kumeu to take up responsibility for wine production.

Since then, Michael has traveled extensively throughout the world's wine regions, and has had the opportunity to spend the 1983 vintage in France with the reputed house of Jean Pierre Moueix in Libourne, near Bordeaux.

In 1989, Michael passed the Examination and became New Zealand's first member of the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine, London. He has many years experience in judging at the New Zealand National Wine Awards, and also has judged at the Australian National Capital Wine Show in Canberra, the Royal Hobart Wine Show in Tasmania and at the Perth Royal Wine Show.

Milan Brajkovich, Vineyard Director

After qualifying with a degree in chemical engineering from Auckland University in 1984, Milan took a job with the New Zealand Dairy Board on their postgraduate program and was involved with research in cheese production.

In 1985, Milan returned to Kumeu River Wines and took over the task of managing the vineyards as well as redeveloping the winery's pressing and crushing facilities. He has been responsible adapting the vineyard machinery for vine management using the "Lyre" or "U" trellis system, which optimizes the fruit ripening regime.

In 1987, Milan traveled to Europe and spent a vintage season in Pomerol, near Bordeaux, with Etablissments JP Moueix. He worked at Château Gazin, which is situated alongside the more famous property of Château Petrus. Milan is now in charge of 25 hectares (62 acres) of vines in Kumeu and consults to several local grape growers who supply grapes to Kumeu River.

Paul Brajkovich, Marketing Director

Paul graduated with a bachelor of commerce degree from Auckland University in 1990. While Paul was at the university, he worked for Kumeu River Wines part-time and was involved in sales and marketing. This included taking a trip with Michael to the London Wine Trade Fair in 1988 which was Kumeu River's first step into the international wine market. It was at this trade fair that Michael and Paul met Win Wilson and Jack Daniels of United States distributors Wilson Daniels, who have become Kumeu River's largest export customer.