"Delicious bouquet of Chardonnay with a mix of gun flint and wood spice, citrus and tree fruits, minerals and old flowers. Palate reflects all of these as flavours loaded with texture, natural acidity and vibrant texture. Long finish, great balance and well made. Drink today and through 2025" Cameron Douglas, Master of Wine

"Fruit from four Wairau Valley sites was hand-harvested, fermented with indigenous yeasts and barrel-aged for 11 months. It is mouthfilling (13.1% alc/vol), with fresh, strong, citrusy, slightly peachy flavours, crisp and dry, and has a minerally streak, firm acid spine, good complexity and obvious potential" Michael Cooper

We love Chardonnay! This wine is a complex, textural wine that exhibits the slight creaminess on the mid-palate that is the key characteristic of Chardonnay. The structure is slightly rich but still finishes fresh and smooth.

There are a number of distinguishing characteristics about this vintage, with the first being that it was one of Mahi's latest starts to date. Temperatures were not particularly low but the sunshine hours, especially in March had been a bit lower which slowed the process of photosynthesis. This year they harvested at slightly lower Brix than usual to make sure that the fruit was clean and aromatic rather than leaving it out to go through the tail ends of both Cyclone Debbie and Cook. Because of this something like 85% of the harvest came in over a relatively short period so there were a few long days and nights. The ferments were super aromatic and it was a year that gentle fruit handling and lower crop levels were appreciated, and one that really showed the value of having their own winery.

The aim for this Chardonnay is to retain a fresh structure with a complex palate. Winemakers therefore minimise the malolactic fermentation so that it is really the vineyards, fruit, wild-ferment and barrel characters that make up the complex nose and palate. This fruit comes from four vineyards; the one hectare vineyard of Bruce and Beverley Cook, the Taylor Vineyard which is in the Rapaura area, the Twin Valleys vineyard, which we have been working with since 2003 and a small amount of recently planted Clone 1066 from the Mahi home block in front of the winery.

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