Kumeu River's Coddington Chardonnay is a single vineyard release from a leased vineyard in the Kumeu subregion. While it has contributed fruit to the estate blend since 1998, it was only in 2006 they decided to give it its own release.

Like all Kumeu River single vineyard releases, this is an exceptional wine with taut acid, a flinty reductiveness and a tightly wound palate (in its youth), but the Coddington has a generous weight that its (arguably) more famous siblings trade in for razor sharp precision.

Lovers of full bodied Chardonnay, form a line.

2024 also saw low yields, although unlike 2023 it was due to a downpour right at budburst - damaging the new shoots that would eventually become grapes. Fortunately aside from nature flexings its muscles, the remainder of the growing season was excellent. It was dry and warm, but never exceeding 29°C. The result is some of the best Kumeu River releases in recent memory.

Some stats for the geeks:

This wine is: Hand harvested, whole-bunch pressed, fermented with indigenous yeast 100% in barrel, aged in French oak for 11 months where it underwent 100% malolactic fermentation.