Kumeu River Huntill Hill Chardonnay 2024

Kumeu River is a family winery run by the Brajkovich family, and Hunting Hill is one of its flagship single-vineyard Chardonnays. The site was first planted in 1982 and replanted in 2000, and now gives riper, more concentrated fruit that shows in the finished wine. The grapes are hand harvested and whole-bunch pressed, then fermented in barrel with wild yeasts. The wine completes full malolactic fermentation, converting malic acid to softer lactic acid for a creamy, savoury texture, and ages on its lees in barrel, where slow oxygen exchange and spent-yeast contact build weight and a fine toasted character. In the glass it is pale gold, with ripe stone fruit, grapefruit, white flowers and a struck-match reductive note. The palate is fuller and richer than its sibling from Mate's Vineyard, with concentrated citrus and peach, a nutty leesy weight and a long, saline, mineral finish that keeps it tight. Serve at around 12 degrees in a large white-wine glass.