Kumeu River Rays Road Chardonnay

The vineyards here are dry-farmed and hand-picked. They picked the fruit for the 2018 in two lots, 10 days apart. Two-thirds of the fruit that went into the 2018 Rays Road is from the early pick, described by winemaker Michael Brajkovich MW as ‘very distinctively limestone in character, with mineral, salty, flint characters that were certainly reminiscent of Chablis’, while the last third was much riper. Whole-bunch pressed, fermented with ambient yeast entirely in barrel, treated to 100% malolactic conversion and aged for 11 months in barrel.  Fresh and minerally and super-crisp but quite satisfying and not meagre at all. Super-clean. Just right for current drinking. If only all white burgundy offered this accessibility (I'm talking both price and taste). Really quite long. A neat, complete wine.