Mahi Alchemy Marlborough Chardonnay 2019

Mahi Alchemy Marlborough Chardonnay 2019French oak Green melon Citrus Creamy texture "Complex yet youthful, a core of stone and citrus fruits, then mineral layered between scents of vanilla and cashew nut oak. Lemon and grapefruit with a core of peach and apple. Vibrant, complex and engaging. On the palate equally complex with flavours that mirror the nose, a firm tension with acidity and fine wood tannins, a touch of saline adds complexity and mouthfeel. A completely delicious wine from

• French oak
• Green melon
• Citrus
• Creamy texture 

"Complex yet youthful, a core of stone and citrus fruits, then mineral layered between scents of vanilla and cashew nut oak. Lemon and grapefruit with a core of peach and apple. Vibrant, complex and engaging. On the palate - equally complex with flavours that mirror the nose, a firm tension with acidity and fine wood tannins, a touch of saline adds complexity and mouthfeel. A completely delicious wine from start to finish, has complexity, great mouthfeel, charm and lovely varietal character. Best drinking from purchase and through 2025" Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier, Jul 2021

Elegant in structure showing green melon and citrus peel aromas. Creamy in the mid-palate giving weight and texture, with the acidity assisting the linearity and length.

Mahi, meaning ‘our work, our craft’, began in 2001, fulfilling a dream of theirs. After 15 vintages it was time to do otheir 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.

The 2019 vintage proved to be their earliest finish ever, which also fits in with their earliest start by five days, starting on March 7th. Strangely enough, although it was otheir earliest vintage it was definitely not their warmest. They believe, however, that they will remember this harvest as one of their best, with excellent fruit quality and ideal weather conditions. This vintage can be defined by a number of characteristics, starting with lower rainfall. From Christmas Day until the end of harvest and overall they received only 75% of their normal rain through the entire growing period. They also saw smaller berries, especially in Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, but also in Sauvignon. Pinot was hit very hard and they were down nearly 50% but also the Sauvignon berries were about 30% smaller than last year. With no rain there was hardly any Botrytis inoculum around and the fruit was the cleanest they have seen in a number of years. This was also helpedby the warmer days, especially since the start of January where the deviation from average growing degree days really kicked in.

The aim for this Chardonnay is to retain a fresh structure with complexity and texture rather than producing a wine that is too broad. This fruit comes from a small parcel from the Badlands vineyard, located in the Rapaura region of Marlborough. The area was once old riverbed and as such the soils have a lot of river stones, combined with silt and clay components also. Typically, it is a slightly warmer area of the valley and as such they find the fruit gives more tropical notes. All of the grapes were hand-picked and then whole-cluster pressed. The resulting juice went straight to French oak barrels and fermented with indigenous yeast from the vineyard. After fermentation the wine sat on yeast lees for fifteen months prior to bottling.