This wine shows an array of fruit characters, ranging from citrus through to tropical notes. This is complemented by some secondary characters from the natural yeast ferments and some barrel aging. The palate has an elegant structure with a creamy, textural mid-palate and a long finish.

Mahi is situated in Marlborough on the north-eastern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. It was established by Brian and Nicola Bicknell in 2001, and in 2006 they purchased the historic winery giving Mahi a home and a sense of place.

The main aim of Mahi is to highlight the quality and diversity of individual vineyard sites in Marlborough. The name Mahi means “our work, our craft” and it was chosen to show that wine is their work, passion and craft while also paying respect to the history of the land and sea of the Maori.

Mahi produces multiple single vineyard wines as well as a regional Marlborough range. They source grapes from over eight different vineyard sites across the region having sought out the right sites, planted with the right varieties, a number of which are farmed biodynamically and are certified organic. The primary emphasis for all Mahi wines is texture, that offer true palate satisfaction and compliment food.

All the wines are made in a ‘hands off’ style to allow the true expression of the vineyard site to shine through. For the single vineyard wines the fruit is hand-picked, whole cluster pressed, fermented using wild indigenous yeast and aged in older French oak.

Our Sauvignon this year comes from five different vineyards, all of them giving particular attributes to the final wine.

The hand-picked fruit was whole cluster pressed so that the time on skins was minimised.

A portion of this juice, 19% this year, was barrel fermented in seasoned French barriques to give greater weight, though ensuring that wood is not evident on the nose. The balance of the wine was fermented cool to retain the fruit characters from our vineyards.

The native ferment portion, 35%, also adds levels of flavour and texture, giving a savoury note that balances some sweeter fruit.

The final blend was made solely from free-run juice, as we feel it gives a more elegant and subtle wine, a key for us.

This year, our 23rd, was again distinctive and it was a late start for us and was a longer vintage.

Starting on March the 15th the weather stayed very settled through the vintage period and allowed us to pick as we like until we finished on April 18th.

Smaller crops always helps and after a warm period after Christmas the temperatures cooled down to ‘average’ and it served to maintain fruit flavours while ripening the fruit.

A great team from seven nations worked so well together and we are super happy with the eventual wines.