2025 Kumeu River Village Chardonnay, Kumeu

The 2025 Village Chardonnay leads with banana and crushed cashew, musk sticks and preserved lemon. The palate is silky and full of flavor, and although not as complex or weighty as the other Chardonnay cuvées from this iconic New Zealand producer, it offers sensational intensity and value for money. This comes recommended, as usual. Drink to 2035.

91 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2026

Some stone-fruit freshness. Nice flinty streak throughout. Really quite a presence on the palate. Kumeu River’s best Village bottling so far! Good impact. Long. I’m almost tempted to give it 17.

16.5/20 points [ed. Very Good Value], Jancis Robinson

The Kumeu Village Chardonnay is the introduction to the impressive Kumeu River offer of Chardonnay wines.

Fruit comes from Kumeu and the family's Rays Road vineyard in Hawkes Bay, and the 2025 vintage delivered outstanding quality across both regions. Indigenous yeast fermentation, full malolactic, 38% in old French oak barriques and 62% in tank. The oak adds a touch of richness and texture without declaring itself.

Pale straw, the nose shows lime, lemon and white peach with flinty mineral notes and a subtle leesy complexity. The palate is fresh and focused with crisp citrus, a hint of almond cream and a clean saline finish. Precise and well balanced, its the kind of Chardonnay that makes the variety easy to love.

This is delicious on it's own, and would be a good one for a nice seafood platter too.

Drink now through 2028.