Hunting Hill Chardonnay, Kumeu

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 Mate’s Vineyard, it has always contributed lovely ripe and rich fruit to the Estate Chardonnay and select barrels are set aside for the Hunting Hill Single Vineyard bottling. Hunting Hill was replanted in 2001 and is now even better than before, giving beautifully ripe fruit with a distinctive mealy minerality. Soils are heavy clay over sandstone. The site also has an iron pan about 12 inches below the surface, which none of the other vineyards have and imparts a unique minerality to the wine.