2024 Hunting Hill Chardonnay, Kumeu River

Mineral Nerve

Taut, sculpted and quietly commanding, the 2024 Hunting Hill Chardonnay feels like one of those wines built as much from tension as from fruit. Lemon, lime blossom and ripe stone fruit rise first, followed by a subtle flinty edge, a touch of cream and the faintest whisper of toasted oak. There is concentration here, certainly, but it comes wrapped in precision rather than richness for richness’ sake. The palate is powerful yet controlled, with citrus, melon and pear fruit drawn across a firm mineral spine, giving the wine a sense of drive and focus that never lets up. Textural, intense and beautifully composed, this is a Chardonnay with real shape and serious energy.

For when: the food matters and the white needs to do more than just refresh.
Pairs with: roast turbot, lobster, roast chicken with lemon, or buttery mushroom dishes.
If this wine were a place: a windswept hillside with bright light, cool air and stone underfoot.

Hunting Hill is one of Kumeu River’s most characterful single-vineyard sites, perched above Maté’s Vineyard and first planted in 1982 before being replanted in 2001. Its heavy clay over sandstone soils, plus a distinctive iron pan beneath the surface, help give the wine its hallmark minerality and tensile structure. Fermented with indigenous yeast and matured for around 11 months in French oak, the 2024 has already drawn strong praise, including 96 points from James Suckling and 95 points from Rebecca Gibb MW, reinforcing Hunting Hill’s reputation as one of New Zealand’s most compelling Chardonnay sites.