2024 Kumeu River "Rays Road" Chardonnay, Kumeu, New Zealand

ABOUT THE WINE

The 2024 Rays Road Chardonnay is sourced from Kumeu River’s limestone-rich vineyard in the elevated foothills of Hawke’s Bay—a site selected by the Brajkovich family for its rare soils and cooler climate. Rays Road is Kumeu River’s only vineyard outside its home region of Kumeu, and it showcases a leaner, more mineral style that contrasts with the richer Kumeu bottlings. The fruit is hand-harvested and whole-bunch pressed before fermentation with wild yeasts in older French oak barrels. No malolactic fermentation is used, preserving the wine’s natural acidity and purity of fruit.

Aromatically, it’s restrained and elegant—green apple, lime zest, crushed shell, and faint brioche—while the palate is tensile and focused, with a racy core and subtle texture from extended lees contact. The 2024 vintage continues the evolution of this site’s identity, offering a fresh, age-worthy Chardonnay ideal with oysters, snapper crudo, or roast chicken with lemon and thyme.

ABOUT THE PRODUCER

Kumeu River is internationally acclaimed as New Zealand’s leading Chardonnay producer, often compared to top white Burgundy. The estate was founded by the Brajkovich family, Croatian immigrants who established the winery near Auckland in 1944. Under the leadership of Master of Wine Michael Brajkovich, Kumeu River has pioneered elegant, terroir-driven Chardonnays with a focus on indigenous yeast fermentation, barrel aging, and minimal intervention.

While the Kumeu vineyards are rooted in clay soils, the acquisition of the Rays Road site in 2017 marked a bold expansion into limestone—a rarity in New Zealand viticulture. Farmed with sustainable practices and low yields, this high-elevation vineyard has quickly become central to the estate’s vision for purity and place. Kumeu River’s philosophy is deeply rooted in tradition, craftsmanship, and a Burgundian approach to Chardonnay, consistently producing wines of clarity, structure, and understated power.