• French oak
• Zesty
• White flowers
• Mineral

"Gently aromatic chardonnay with butterscotch, grapefruit marmalade, peach and oyster-shell supported by fruity acidity. Impressive wine from a top vintage. Accessible now but with the potential to evolve further in the next few years" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jul 2021

"Youthful, restrained bouquet with characters of yellow apple skin, white peach, herbal notes, fresh cream, and sourdough. A little locked-in right now. Dry, crisp, and weighty but with a slight acid/alcohol hotness on the finish at this stage" Steve Bennett, Master of Wine

"This is a fuller style from Hawke’s Bay and quite different from the rest of the Kumeu range of chardonnays. Bold, ripe peaches dominate the nose and palate. The texture is impressively silky and smooth. Very fleshy and complete. Impressive" Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com

An exciting Rays Road Chardonnay showing white flowers and lemon on the nose, with vibrant acidity and tingly oyster-shell minerality on the palate.

Rays Road is Kumeu River’s new vineyard site in Hawkes Bay. This limestone hillside is at 180 m altitude, with a northerly aspect. It is dry-farmed to yield high quality grapes for wine under the Rays Road name for our Kumeu River label.  This Chardonnay was hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed and fermented with wild yeast in older French Oak barrels to give a wine that is zesty and fragrant, with mineral complexity that is very true to its site.

With the 2020 vintage Rays Road produced the best fruit they have seen yet from this unique site. With new clonal plantings of Chardonnay in their first year of production, we were able to blend some extra ripeness and richness with the fresh limestone vibrancy of the existing vines. 

Food Pairing: Delicious with chicken, seafood, pasta & risotto.