• French oak
• White stone fruit
• Grapefruit
• Mouth-watering acidity

"Bright, fresh, elegant wine with oyster shell, grapefruit/citrus, green apple and spicy oak flavours with a vibrant backbone of mouth-watering acidity and peppery phenolics. High energy wine that is drinking well upon release" Bob Campbell, Master of Wine, Real Review, Jul 2023

"There is marked quality and purity in the bouquet of this wine since I tasted the previous 2021 vintage. There's a finesse and purity of fruit with a gentle sweetness and complexity from barrel then aromas and flavours of stone clay soil suggestions. White fleshed stone fruits and red apple flesh, some grapefruit and (no new barrel) lemon highlights. Satin silk texture, med+ acid line delicious" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier

Rays Road is Kumeu River’s vineyard site in Hawkes Bay that was purchased in 2017. 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 2022 vintage Rays Road produced very clean and ripe fruit from this unique site. We are now receiving significant quantities of Chardonnay from the new plantings, based on Clones 15 and 548. These allow for a much deeper and more nuanced expression of the Chardonnay variety than the existing Clone 95 plantings, but still with the zesty minerality on the palate. The result is an exciting Rays Road Chardonnay showing white flowers and lemon on the nose, with rich texture and vibrant acidity on the palate.

This wine is a terrific addition to the Kumeu River range and we are now seeing the quality advance that we were expecting from this site.