Winemaker Notes
The 2011 Hunting Hill is beautifully fragrant with its lemon/lime blossom characters and lovely fruit purity. This wine shares some of the characters with the neighboring Mate's Vineyard with its attractive floral notes and restrained elegance. The Hunting Hill vineyard has a particularly pure character that, in its youth, displays a tight and crisp palate which needs some bottle age to reveal the power and concentration that lies beneath the surface.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
The vineyard that sits above Mate's Vineyard, and this has immense verve and energy, offering intense grapefruit citrus and nectarine, with some flint and stony, chalky notes. The palate is taut and full of excitement and tension. Terrific acidity drives concentrated fruit flavor along. It winds tight and pithy through the finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A surprisingly plump, easygoing version, the 2011 Hunting Hill Chardonnay is wonderfully drinkable now, marrying nectarine and white peach notes with lime and lemon.
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Wine Spectator
Starts out firm and juicy, with green apple, Asian pear and lemon zest notes, but then gains momentum, with toast, vanilla bean, candied ginger and honeycomb details, culminating in a detailed, refreshing wine with a long, lingering finish. Drink now through 2026.
Founded in 1944 by Mick Brajkovich, wife Katé and son Maté, Kumeu River was one of the early pioneers in Auckland, New Zealand, that helped to establish its reputation as a world-class wine region. Still family owned and run, Kumeu River continues to pioneer new frontiers: winemaker Michael Brajkovich became New Zealand’s first member of the prestigious Institute of Masters of Wine, London, they have been testing and championing screw cap closures for close to 20 years and the winery has gone on to become the globally recognized benchmark for non-Burgundy produced Chardonnay. All Kumeu River wines are hand-harvested, whole bunch pressed and demonstrate exclusive use of indigenous yeast fermentation.
The Chardonnays of Kumeu River have gained a strong foothold within the international market, continuously and consistently receiving outstanding accolades. The winery is a globally recognized benchmark for age-worthy Chardonnay outside of Burgundy.
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
Grape-growers in the local subregions of Clevedon, Matakana and Waiheke Island, focusing on vineyard techniques to maximize quality, are producing very fine Bordeaux Blends from local grapes. Auckland is also an industrial area where winemakers can produce quality wines based on sourced grapes from neighboring regions.