Mahi Twin Valleys Marlborough Chardonnay 2023

Description

Cream, Oak, Passionfruit

"Flinty reduction branches off stony oyster-shell and heritage apple flavours on this complex and lightly restrained wine. Beautiful, crystalline acidity provides a counterpoint for the deepening toffee, spice and wood flavours which take hold towards the back of the palate before tamping down to a dry, chewy finish. There is both density to the compact, coffee-ish flavours as well as a leaner, brittle, bony aspect. This will develop in the mid-term into something quite complex and smooth" Stephen Wong, The Real Review, Feb 2025

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, 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.

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.

The aim for this Chardonnay is to retain a fresh structure rather than producing a wine that is too broad. The clone and site help with this, but also the picking decisions also work to retain acidity in the glass. This wine comes from a small parcel in the Twin Valley Vineyard, located in the Fareham Lane area of Marlborough. The vineyard is at the western end of the Wairau Valley, at the junction with the Waihopai, and is on the top terrace. The upper terrace along the Wairau has a more complex soil, a great mixture of silt, clay and stones that give drainage but also some water-holding to help the vines through the dry periods. Being some distance from the sea the climate is also cooler. The grapes therefore typically ripen more slowly and retain an interesting mineral character. The vines were cropped low to ensure ripeness and palate richness. The grapes were then whole-cluster pressed and the high-solids juice taken straight to French barriques for fermentation with indigenous yeast. After 15 months in oak, we felt the balance was correct and gently took the wine from barrel.