Rays Road is Kumeu River’s new vineyard site in Hawkes Bay. This limestone hillside is at 180 m altitude, with a northerly aspect. It is dry-farmed to yield high quality grapes for wine under the Rays Road name for our Kumeu River label.  This Chardonnay was hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeast in older French Oak barrels to give a wine that is zesty and fragrant, with mineral complexity that is very true to its site.

From the winery:

"The 2020 single vineyard, barrel fermented Chardonnay offers sophisticated soft wine with restrained flavours of grapefruit, melon and a subtle blend of nut, spicy oak and lees characters.

Barrel fermented and Barrel aged in new and older French oak add complexity and texture."

Fermented on skins for 190 days this wine is Grown traditionally and fermented without intervention. A pure expression of The Opou Vineyard, home to Chardonnay for 50 years now telling us its stories with a new voice. Unfined and unfiltered, this uncompromised wine offers a perfect journey from our place to your glass. With love and gratitude.

Alc 13.5%

Vegan and Vegetarian Friendly

A ripe, transparent and flinty style reminiscent of the 2019 Watchmaker. 2021 was another superb growing season and this wine will reward patient wine lovers for 8-10 years from vintage.

Stone fruits, lemon, cedar and gunflint. Bursting with mineral aromas with wonderful transparency on a rich, yet balanced palate. Limes and apricots come through on the palate that has super acidity. The 2021 Watchmaker has less new oak influence than other vintages, but still has the trademark salty zing on the finish.

Commercial description

The Drinking
Bright, fresh, varietal and attractive bouquet with a pure fruit core of white fleshed stone fruits then citrus, some floral notes then sweet oak. Nice weight and texture from occasional barrel stirring and a mix of seasoned and new oak, hazel nut, with some macadamia and vanilla in the background. Fine dusty wood tannins keep the texture flowing while acidity and alcohol carry flavour through to a lengthy finish.
— Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier (The Shout Magazine, Sept 2021)

The Growing
This was a hot and dry vintage with almost zero rain right through summer. Dry farming practices since planting day, along with being herbicide free under vine, has encouraged the vine roots to grow deep into the sandy Esk River loam in search of water and nutrients, giving a more expressive wine with intensely flavoured smaller berries. A 70/30 mix of two clones; 548 and 95, this wine will only improve with careful cellaring for another 6+ years.

The Making
Hand picked grapes were gently whole bunch pressed before some of the juice was pumped direct from the juice tray into barrels and the rest was settled over night. It was then transferred into a mix of 20% new and seasoned French barriques and hogsheads and fermented with indigenous yeast. Post primary ferment, barrel stirring commenced every so often, to keep the yeast in suspension, adding a layer of complexity and imparting some yeasty goodness. The wine was barrel aged on lees for 11 months and malolactic fermentation happened naturally, with no fining and minimal sulphur added prior to bottling.

Winemaker David Clouston blended grapes from The Spring and Brookby Hill vineyards to make this full bodied, creamy, big Chardonnay, which was fermented using indigenous yeasts with lees stirring and full malolactic fermentation.

Maturation for 11 months aging in new and seasoned French oak barrels as well as a concrete egg adds smoothness and savoury flavours to this wine, which was bottled unfiltered. 

If you're a fan of big buttery styles of Chardonnay, try this taste sensation from Marlborough.

Larry McKenna loves a Chardonnay made in a fresh, crisp style with creamy texture but balanced by bright acidity, a medium to full body and a long finish. So, if big buttery Chardonnays are your thing, this wine will meet your hopes in a textural fashion. Which is another way of saying, try this great white made in a fresh style.

It's made from grapes grown on Te Muna Road, Martinborough, which were planted in 1999. The wine goes through malolactic fermentation with lees stirring to enhance texture and it aged for 11 months in French oak, 20% of it new.

Established in 1864 by Jean Désiré Féraud, Monte Christo is the birthplace of Central Otago wine. Our wines are made with 100% estate-grown fruit sourced from our vineyards across three distinct sub-regions, the Alexandra Basin, Bannockburn and Pisa. Utilising sustainable farming practices and minimal intervention methods in the winery, the outcome is elegant, refined, and impeccably balanced wines epitomising the terroir of Central Otago.

Tasting note An elegant yet complex Chardonnay with fresh lemon, green pear, white peach, hawthorn flowers, river rock and subtle baking spices.

VINEYARDS Vineyard: Davishon (69%) 

Subregion: Alexandra Basin 

Elevation: 160m 

Clone(s): 6, Mystery clone 

Soil: Blackmans alluvial sand, silt and gravels derived from schist and sandstone

WINEMAKING 

Brix: 21.6 

Fermentation: Wild yeasts in 72%  neutral oak and 28% stainless steel, 100% malolactic  

Aging: 11 months in 72% neutral French oak, 28% stainless steel 

Potiki is Maori for 'last born' and is the apt and evocative name for the newest Chardonnay from Ata Rangi in Martinborough. Fleshy, full bodied and bone dry (as the best Chardonnays are), this is a stunning new wine with richness and balanced acidity adding length to every crisp and succulent sip.

Kumeu River Wines and the owners, the Brajkovich family, are icons of the New Zealand wine industry. This Chardonnay consistently over delivers for its modest price tag and is a dry, medium bodied wine with nutty, fresh, savoury elements derived from fermentation in old French oak barriques for 80% of the wine with the balancing 20% in stainless steel to preserve freshness. 

This wine is great drinking now as a fab go-to wine, any time.

Kumeu River Wines began life as San Marino Wines in 1944 when Croatian immigrant couple, Mick and Katé Brajkovich, bought a small property with a vineyard on it. Their descendents now own and run Kumeu River Wines, which produces 250,000 bottles of wine annually from its owns 30 hectares of vineyards in Kumeu and from another 10 hectares, owned by local grape growers. 

Pale gold in colour, Waipara Downs Chardonnay opens with ripe nectarine, lemon zest and white peach. Subtle toasted French oak and almond meal add savoury depth, while leesy texture builds mid-palate weight. Fine, chalky acidity drives a long, mineral finish. A poised, cool-climate style showing purity, elegance and gentle creamy richness. A stunner at the price.

Matahiwi winery's South Series refers to wines made from its most southernmost vineyards; in the Wairarapa where cooler nights result in crisper wines. This full bodied Chardonnay is a great expression of those two factors, balanced by creamy mouth texture and a touch of hazelnut intermingled with oatmeal and other complex flavours. Stunning value too. 

Hand-picked and fermented with natural vineyard yeasts and aged in 20% new French oak barrels and 38% in a concrete Tulipe for 12 months before settling in a concrete Tulipe on light lees for a further 5 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Slightly hazy, lemon golden hue. Complex aromas of grilled nuts, citrus fruits, florals and a hint of lemon rind. Mouth-watering acidity drives the wine with laser focus, flavours of citrus fruits, toasted nuts and a creamy texture gives the wine body and weight. A classic North Canterbury Chardonnay that is fully ripe and saline.

Made from a blend of 60% Waiheke and 40% Gisborne Chardonnay grapes, this wine is perfectly balanced with a delicious long finish highlighting the almost 12 months the wine has spent in barrel.

Rich and concentrated with nectarine, lime and passion-fruit with toasty vanilla slight, buttery element and butterscotch undertones.