Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay 2021

Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay 2021French oak White flowers Lemon Rich texture An exciting Rays Road Chardonnay showing white flowers and lemon on the nose, with rich texture and vibrant acidity on the palate. With the 2021 vintage Rays Road produced very concentrated and rich fruit from this unique site. With new clonal plantings of Chardonnay in their second year of production, we were able to blend some extra ripeness and richness with the fresh limestone vibrancy of the existing

• French oak
• White flowers
• Lemon
• Rich texture

An exciting Rays Road Chardonnay showing white flowers and lemon on the nose, with rich texture and vibrant acidity on the palate.

With the 2021 vintage Rays Road produced very concentrated and rich fruit from this unique site. With new clonal plantings of Chardonnay in their second year of production, we were able to blend some extra ripeness and richness with the fresh limestone vibrancy of the existing vines. 

Rays Road is Kumeu River’s vineyard site in Hawkes Bay that was purchased in 2017. 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.

This wine is a terrific addition to the Kumeu River range and we are now seeing the quality advance that we were expecting from this site.