2023 Kumeu River Coddington Chardonnay, Kumeu Auckland

The complexity and flintiness are so enticing, with sliced apples, lemons, minerals and gunpowder. Full-bodied, dense and intense, with subtle brioche, cooked lemon and apple notes. Racy and steely but with richness underneath. Some lemongrass. So complex. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

95 points jamessuckling.com Jun 2024

Once again the Chardonnay wines, particularly the Single Vineyards, are shining examples of the Kumeu style. The terroir differences between various parcels are very distinct, really highlighting their individual personalities. Pinot Gris is also very strong this year with high sugar levels, and with some Botrytis influence producing rich and textural wines.

Our Rays Road vineyard in Hawkes Bay continues to improve greatly as the new plantings gain maturity. Ripening was pretty much in parallel with Kumeu, which made for a very busy time in the winery for an intense period of pressing and fermenting. We are now receiving significant quantities of Chardonnay from the new plantings, based on Clones 15 and 548. These allow for a much deeper and more nuanced expression of the Chardonnay variety than the existing Clone 95 plantings, but still with the zesty minerality on the palate. Similarly with Pinot Noir, we now have new plantings of the most up-to-date Dijon selections from Burgundy: Clones 828 and 935. While still in very small quantities, it is obvious even now that these will have an enormous positive impact on the quality of our Rays Road Pinot Noir. These are exciting times indeed. 
 
Winemakers Report

The single-vineyard Coddington wine is strongly coloured and richly ripe in the yellow peach and apricot spectrum, with a background of toasted oak and hazelnut. It is the biggest style in our range, and satisfyingly rich as such, but also nicely balanced with its acidity.