The wine displays a bright cherry red/ burgundy colour with lifted red fruit aromas. On the palate the wine is cool, round and fruity and with a nice hint of chalky tannin that keeps the wine dry and refreshing.

The weighty mid-palate also shows peachy ripeness along with crisp acid minerality that gives the wine a refreshing cleansing quality. This wine is delightful as an aperitif, and even better to drink with fish and shellfish.

The Kumeu River Ray's Road Chardonnay is a fresh, zesty Chardonnay with a mineral backbone, reflecting the unique limestone terroir of the Ray's Road Vineyard in Hawke's Bay. Known for its vibrant acidity and lively minerality. The palate is lively and zesty, featuring flavors of citrus, particularly lemon and grapefruit, balanced by a fresh oyster-shell minerality. The wine has a creamy texture from the malolactic fermentation, but retains its vibrant acidity, leading to a crisp, refreshing finish with a lingering mineral note.

The 2020 vintage for Mate’s Vineyard was truly remarkable. We have seen some fine wines from this vineyard in the last 30 years but 2020 is the pinnacle of what has been achieved so far. Mate’s Vineyard is always the last site picked each year. In 2020 the grapes had distinctive Mendoza millerandage, a gene defect which causes many small berries along with the normal sized ones, and as a result a wonderfully concentrated palate texture and fruit richness. Although still somewhat shy on the nose, with bottle age the full palette of complex aromas and bouquet of this wonderful wine will be gradually and seductively revealed.