Even if you don’t recognise David Mackintosh’s name, but there’s a good chance one of his wines is etched in your memory. Hawke’s Bay native Dave worked at Oyster Bay before moving to Australia in 2006 to work with PJ Charteris at Hunter Valley’s Brokenwood. A career-defining stint at Giant Steps in the Yarra Valley followed, where he worked hand-in-glove with Steve Flamsteed, one of the finest Chardonnay minds in the country. Now a sought-after producer in his own right under his Kenzie and Arfion label, Dave has returned home to make modern single-vineyard wines from the diverse rocky soils of “New Zealand’s underutilised resource”: Hawke’s Bay.

The North Island wine region is one of New Zealand’s oldest. A few months back, it was named the 12th Great Wine Capital of the World, placing it in illustrious company alongside Bordeaux, Napa and the Douro. Shaped by rivers and hewn from rock, ancient and young soils interlace in this diverse Mediterranean climate. Dave works with sites across the subzones―Esk Valley, Gimblett Gravels, Bridge Pa Triangle and Mangatahi Terraces―collaborating with small, independent growers who farm carefully, organically and sustainably. This palette of sites, soils and micro-climates provides the canvas, with gentle brushstrokes in the cellar teasing the best out of the fruit with minimal artifice. These are a modern take on the Hawke’s Bay classics: medium-bodied, pure, juicy reds and Chardonnays as good as you’d expect from someone who helped set Australian lofty contemporary benchmark.
 
These single-site Kenzie wines are a transparent, no-frills expression of this fascinating region—subtle, elegantly composed expressions of site, soil and season.