Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay 2022
Hunting Hill is a vineyard that was first planted in 1982 and became a significant part of the original Kumeu River Chardonnay blend. Occupying the slope overlooking Mate’s Vineyard, it has always contributed lovely ripe and rich fruit to the Estate Chardonnay. The Hunting Hill vineyard was replanted in 2001 and is now even better than before, giving beautifully ripe fruit with a distinctive mealy minerality. The conditions during harvest were suburb and the 2022 vintage produced a classic Hunting Hill style. All the fruit is hand-harvested, whole-bunch pressed and undergoes 100% barrel fermentation (using indigenous yeast), with 100% malolactic fermentation and the 11 months maturation in French oak barrels (25% new). Kumeu River Hunting Hill Chardonnay has a very distinctive terroir driven style, with piercing lemon/lime fruit lift and floral on the nose, richness and volume in the mouth followed by lingering acidity and minerality on the finish. This is an absolute classic example of how great the Chardonnay grape can be: A beautifully powerful, yet elegant and complex wine with long term aging ability.
