Kumeu River
Ray's Road Pinot Noir, Hawke's Bay
Rays Road is the only Kumeu River single vineyard Pinot Noir. The Pinot Noir at Ray's Road was planted by the previous owners of this site in 2008 with a variety of superior clones. The Brajkovich family are very excited by the Pinot Noir from this limestone terrior, and the future of this vineyard is certainly very bright. The winery has identified a small section of this vineyard which shows distinct character and consistent high quality fruit, and dedicated it solely to the production of the Ray's Road bottling.
Vintage Factsheets
The vineyard in Rays Road, Raukawa was established in 2008 as a joint venture between Trinity Hill and Pascal Jolivet from Sancerre, France. Kumeu River purchased the vineyard in full in 2017. The Brajkovichs are very excited about the land in this vineyard as it is predominantly based on limestone soils and significantly more elevated than most vineyards in Hawke's Bay. The Pinot Noir was planted in 2008 with a variety of superior clones. The winery pick the best fruit from this site for the Rays Road bottling and the remainder is blended into Kumeu River Village Pinot Noir.
- Region
- Kumeu
- Appellation
- Kumeu
- Varietal Composition
- Pinot Noir
- Aging
- Fruit is hand harvested, 100% destemmed and then crushed. The wine undergoes indigenous yeast fermentation and cuvaison takes 2-3 weeks. After malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine is then matured for 12 months in French oak (10% new).
- Alcohol
- 13.5%
This wine is bright, fragrant with ripe cherry and other red-fruit aromas. There is also a distinctive dry leaf quality which comtributes to the complexity. The palate is supple, decepively concentrated with a distinctive limestone edge, It is approachable now, and we ahve no doubt that this complex wine will enhance further with bottle age.
