Hunting Hill is a vineyard that was first planted in 1982 and became a significant part of the original Kumeu River Chardonnay blend. Occupying the slope overlooking Maté’s Vineyard, it has always contributed lovely ripe and rich fruit to the Estate Chardonnay. Hunting Hill was replanted in 2000 and is now even better than before, giving beautifully ripe fruit with a distinctive, mealy minerality.
Winemaker's Notes
2025 was a remarkably dry harvest season. We started with the early Sparkling Wine varieties in perfect condition on 4 February. One week later we had 17mm, just before we commenced the table wine harvest. After that, it was pretty much dry all the way through the rest of Vintage on 17 March.
Vinification
Hand harvested
Whole-bunch pressed
Indigenous yeast fermentation
100% barrel fermentation
French Oak
100% malo-lactic fermentation
11 months maturation in barrel
12.8% vol.
Drink with
- Seafood • Pasta • Chicken • Risotto
