| Region | |
|---|---|
| Subregion | New Zealand > Auckland |
| Colour | White |
| Type | Still |
The 2022 Chardonnay Hunting Hill is an impressive, focused style. It has a sense of energy, being almost buoyant with the movement of a skimming stone across your palate. There's a powerful core of fruit here and it has plenty of substance within its no-more-than medium-bodied core before kerpow! It fires home with an almost spicy kick. Clever oak use, reminiscent of toasted nuts, meets restrained flavors of lemon and lime bitter and nectarine fruit. A wine that's still in its cocoon so give it time. It may even have the edge of Maté's... Big call. 2024-2035.
Cooked apple and lemon curd with hints of pie crust and sweet biscuit. Some kiwi undertones. Medium-bodied with creamy texture and a flavorful finish. Drink now. Screw cap.
The 2022 Hunting Hill Chardonnay is mouthfilling and obvious in its outlay of flavor in the mouth—yellow peach, apricot, Golden Delicious apple, beeswax/lanolin and ripe lime flesh. The flutter of acidity that feathers the fruit is compelling and alluring in its power and juiciness. An exciting wine. It's a wine I want to drink (I will; the perks) and a wine I am enjoying considering too. It's intellectual and sensorial/corporeal in equal measure. The Hunting Hill Vineyard was planted in 1982 and overlooks Mate's Vineyard. This is a pleasurable, exciting, fleshy, complex, salty, kaleidoscopic wine. Excellent. Recommended. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap. 2023-2037.
The 2022 Hunting Hill has opened up beautifully in the last few months in bottle. Initially steely and tightly wound, the nose is now expressive with floral tones of fresh lime, confit lemon and peach, together with the struck match and savoury spice that adds such enticing complexity to this wine year on year. The palate is focused and acid-driven, piercing in its intensity and youthful in character, it is delicious now, though it will of course evolve and improve in bottle. Lightly creamy citrus fruit, phenolic structure and lime curd all come through, with an unerring saline undertone. There is such depth and underlying power here, the finish is expansive and shows more orchard fruit and spice. Very long, vertical and finely balanced, this is another outstanding Hunting Hill.
Fragrant and succulent, with notes of grilled peach, mango and orange blossoms that are generous, fleshy and very juicy. Generous details of green tea, lemon curd and lemon balm linger, as does an appealing note of crunchy sea salt minerality. Drink now through 2034. 2,800 cases made, 224 cases imported.
Tense and racy and tight – sort of Chassagne/St-Aubin border?! More obvious acid and tension than in the other Kumeu River Chardonnays. You could definitely enjoy it already if you liked a leaner style but it would benefit from further ageing ideally. 13.5%. Drink 2024 – 2036
The 2022 Hunting Hill is steely and tightly wound with a little lime blossom on the nose, typical of this vineyard in great vintages. Very pale in the glass, the aromas expand with air, showing layers of salted limes, struck flint, mandarin oil and subtle wood spice. The palate is coiled, acid-driven and very youthful - this wine will need two years in bottle before approaching and won't hit its peak for a decade. There is a sense of pithy citrus fruit from phenolic structure; lemon blossom and more of the saline, savoury spices unfurl on the mid-palate. There is such depth and underlying power here, revealing itself more towards the finish, which expands with a flourish of riper orchard fruit. Very long, vertical and finely balanced, this is another very promising Hunting Hill that warrants patience.
