Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir 2018

Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir 2018Full bodied Soft tannins Ripe fruit Dark cherries & plums "A very bright and attractive pinot that has aromas of nectarines, peaches and light red cherries with a succulent, tangy palate that draws vibrant, pure fruit flavor on a fresh finish. Drink now" James Suckling, Jamessuckling. com A full and rich bouquet, this wine is mouthfilling, ripe and supple with good complexity. Dark cherries and plums combine with soft tannins to give a wellrounded

• Full bodied
• Soft tannins
• Ripe fruit
• Dark cherries & plums

"A very bright and attractive pinot that has aromas of nectarines, peaches and light red cherries with a succulent, tangy palate that draws vibrant, pure fruit flavor on a fresh finish. Drink now" James Suckling, Jamessuckling.com

A full and rich bouquet, this wine is mouthfilling, ripe and supple with good complexity. Dark cherries and plums combine with soft tannins to give a wellrounded finish.

This wine comes from three vineyards throughout Marlborough, all lending different characters to the wine. The Twin Valleys portion from the cooler Fareham Road area gives the palate structure required; offering finesse to the back-palate. Fruit from the Byrne vineyard this year gave some lovely delicacy, though bigger blacker fruit notes than ever seen before. The final portion came from Ward, approximately 45 kilometres south of Blenheim, providing great depth to the palate, with rich black fruit characters.

Winemakers knew it was going to be an early vintage and the main reason seemed to be the warmer nights through January. The end of January/start of February is the time of veraison in Marlborough and at this stage they were about a week ahead of previous vintages, and also had low bunch numbers. Rainfall in January was also up and the vines and canopies looked amazing heading into veraison. Then came the rain of February, not a great concern, but rainfall at veraison often produces bigger berries, which can mean higher disease incidence. February had higher rainfall than any on record in Marlborough, due to Cyclone Gita. March provided some respite from the wet and warm conditions. 

In the winery the grapes were predominantly destemmed before going to small vats for cold soaking prior to fermentation, allowing the extraction of soft tannins and colour at the juice stage rather than in the harsher alcoholic stage during and after fermentation. The grapes were then fermented solely with indigenous yeasts offering a wide variety of flavours and helping winemakers to attain better texture. During fermentation the skins and juice were hand-plunged on average three times per day. When finished the wine was taken straight to French barriques where it sat for 13 months. The wine was then gently racked, blended, and lightly fined with organic egg whites before bottling.

Mahi, meaning ‘our work, our craft’, began in 2001, fulfilling a dream of ours. After 15 vintages it was time to do our own thing. With a strong focus on single-vineyard wines, and now backed up by a series of premium regional wines from Marlborough, the idea behind Mahi is to respect and promote the individuality of the various vineyards. The Mahi symbol represents the strength, life and growth of the native New Zealand frond (fern), with the understanding that wine should never be rushed to bottle, respecting its ability to evolve naturally over time.