2024 Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay, Hawkes Bay

The 2024 Rays Road Chardonnay leads with a spicy, almost exotic nose, while the palate strides in smooth, sleek movements. This is creamy and a little nutty, and there are wet limestone notes in the mouth, alongside yellow citrus and layers of dried herbs, cracked fennel seeds, ginger root and fruit flavors. A lovely wine, it's weighted on the back palate and long through the finish. I tasted this as a tank sample prior to filtration and bottling. The Ray's Road vineyard is on a limestone base and has been significantly worked and replanted since the Kumeu River purchase in 2021.

Tasting in verticals, like I did with the Brajkovich family at Kumeu River, reveals learnings that would otherwise be inaccessible. Firstly, I learned that Maté's looks like Maté's regardless of the season. It is the most distinct of the single vineyards, and it endures through all seasons. I learned that the Estate Chardonnay ages far better than I had given it credit for, and it seems that a good vintage of this wine will live for two decades instead of just one, as I had initially thought. I learned that the dominance of Coddington or Hunting Hill vineyard Chardonnays see-saws each season—for my palate—and while I find these two to be more seasonally variable, the rewards are high when they are on song. These are extraordinarily long-lived wines, and according to Paul Brajkovich, the most ideal drinking window opens at around eight years from harvest.

There is very little correlation between warm and cool years being pinned to even or odd numbered vintages, and the weather here experiences everything from tropical storms, frost, dry spells and cyclones. 2025 has been a very good season: extraordinarily dry (little rainfall, low humidity) and quite cool—not a day over 28 degrees Celsius.

92-94 points Erin Larkin robertparker.com

The Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay from Hawke’s Bay is a strikingly elegant white that shows the cool-climate precision of this limestone-rich site. Kumeu River, widely regarded as New Zealand’s premier Chardonnay producer under the Brajkovich family, has long set the benchmark for Burgundian-inspired, terroir-driven Chardonnay. Rays Road is their first vineyard outside of Auckland, planted on north-facing slopes in Hawke’s Bay with elevated limestone soils, which provide fruit of exceptional tension, minerality and purity.

In the glass it is pale straw with green hues. The bouquet is refined and complex, offering lemon zest, white peach and green apple alongside notes of flint, struck match and subtle cashew. On the palate it is taut and mineral-driven, with citrus and stone fruit flavours framed by crisp acidity and a chalky texture. A whisper of oak adds savoury spice and structure without overwhelming the fruit, while the finish is long, precise and saline, a hallmark of the vineyard’s limestone influence.

Food pairings highlight its freshness and finesse: oysters with lemon, grilled scallops, sashimi, roast chicken with tarragon, or a simple goat’s cheese salad. With 8 to 10 years of cellaring potential, the wine develops more savoury and nutty layers while maintaining its mineral backbone.