2024 Chardonnay, Kidnappers Vineyard, Craggy Range

Coastal Cut

The evocatively named Kidnapper’s Chardonnay takes its name from Hawke’s Bay’s dramatic headland of Cape Kidnappers. 

This is Hawke’s Bay Chardonnay with sea air, shape and serious refreshment. It opens with fleshy peach, crisp pear, lemon, mandarin, and melon, followed by blossom, thistle, oyster shell, subtle oak sweetness, and a clean, chalky edge.

The palate is bright, saline and finely textured, with ripe orchard fruit balanced by fresh acidity and a mineral line that keeps everything precise. There is gentle oak polish, but the wine stays coastal and energetic rather than rich or heavy. Think white Burgundy manners with New Zealand sunlight and a cool Pacific breeze.

For when you want Chardonnay with polish, freshness and a proper mineral snap.
Pairs with scallops, roast chicken, crab linguine, grilled sea bass, fresh pasta, Caesar salad, or Comté.
If this wine were… a coastline, it would be pale cliffs, bright sun and a cold wind coming off the water.

Craggy Range is one of New Zealand’s benchmark family-owned wineries, based beneath Te Mata Peak in Hawke’s Bay and known for estate wines that focus on place, precision and purity. Kidnappers Chardonnay comes from the cool, sunny Te Awanga vineyard near Cape Kidnappers, where coastal conditions help build concentrated flavour while preserving freshness. The 2024 is 100% Chardonnay, with fruit 70% whole-bunch pressed, fermented in puncheon and stainless steel, then aged for 8 months in French and Austrian oak puncheons, 15% new.