2025 Kumeu River Ray's Road Chardonnay

Kumeu River's most mineral and saline Chardonnay, and it comes not from Kumeu at all. Ray's Road is their Hawke's Bay limestone hillside project, dry-farmed at 180 metres with a northerly aspect, producing a wine in a noticeably different register to the estate. More citrus-driven, more saline, with a fennel and flinty freshness that pushes straight through the palate.

The 2025 vintage was a remarkably dry season in Hawke's Bay. A brief burst of rain at the start of the table wine harvest was essentially all they got, with dry conditions carrying through to mid-March. The fruit came in clean and concentrated.

Handpicked and whole-bunch pressed, wild fermented in older French oak, 100% through malo, eleven months in barrel. The approach is hands-off throughout, letting the limestone do what limestone does.

Peach, green melon, lime, cedar and fennel on the nose, then bright and juicy on the palate with a savoury, saline pull and a long, tangy finish. Bolder than the estate Chardonnays, but that's the point of this wine.

94 points
"It has some peachy flavour, but pulls savoury and saline, bright and juicy acidity, sourdough in the mix, with a tangy finish of excellent length. A very good wine"
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)