Winemaker Notes
This wine has fragrant lemon/lime blossom aromas on the nose that typify the lovely perfume from fruit grown in Hunting Hill. The 2013 vintage was affected by a spring frost and the subsequent yields were approximately one-half the usual size. The summer was one of the best on record and the grapes were beautifully clean, ripe and intensely flavored, creating a wine of intense concentration and complexity that will be very long-lived.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Hunting Hill Chardonnay is sapid and penetrating in its intensity of flavor. The wine is showing a little more development than the Hunting Hill tasted beside it, but this merely translates to notions of wafer and pressed linen, both of which are very attractive through the finish. It is almost oily in texture. This is a magnificent wine.
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Wine Spectator
Intense and focused, with plenty of toasted herb and cedar notes providing an aromatic lift to the core of marmalade, pear, spice and honeysuckle shadings. Finishes with bright, refreshing acidity. Drink now through 2026. 350 cases made.
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Wine Enthusiast
Like the other 2013 Chardonnays from Kumeu River, this boasts crisp acids. Melon and lime notes dominate at first, slowly being overtaken by zesty pineapple fruit on the finish. Quaffable now, but sure to deepen and round out with a few years of aging. Drink now–2020.
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.