Rays Road is a 28ha vineyard (initially mostly planted to Sauvignon Blanc by the Loire’s Pascal Jolivet and Trinity Hill) at 180mm elevation on a limestone slope in Hawke’s Bay, acquired by the Brajkovich family in 2018. Newly planted Chardonnay blocks have started to come into production in recent years and, as winemaker Michael Brajkovich MW says, the resulting wines “are particularly exciting and edgy” – particularly so now as the vines are gaining maturity. This year, ripening in Rays Road was almost in parallel with Kumeu.

All Kumeu’s single vineyard Chardonnays are made in the same way as the Estate Chardonnay. That is: hand-harvested, whole-bunch pressed, and wild fermented in old French oak, before 11 months’ maturation in barrel on lees. All the wines go through 100% malolactic fermentation to tame the naturally bracing acidity (typically 8.5-9.5g/L tartaric acid). The only aspect of the élevage which varies is the percentage of new oak for ageing, between 20% to 30% usually.