Brian was a consummate presenter of his wines and his varied vineyards in the
Marlborough region. His whiteboard diagrams and explanations of how, why and what consummated good wines, grounds, countries differences and weather were educational for us all, helped along by his sense of humour.
He reinforced to us that this year’s vintage was very good, very early and very small. And that this may be good for smaller vineyards as the quality is very good. He also thought we could all benefit from some fine wines being drunk.
It was the 21st vintage for Mahi, and because of COVID all of their vintage staff were from NZ!
Brian also had his son Max back from a winery in New York to do his first full crush here at his winery, which was very special for them both.
Because of COVID and the increase of wine consumption at home worldwide (in the developed world), Marlborough went into vintage with hardly any available wine and after a vintage that was down by possibly 30% there will be a supply problem, perhaps for a couple of years, depending on the weather this year.
Our tasting on the evening involved vertical tastings, which was something different for us and most interesting. Wines tasted during the evening were:
- 2020 Mahi Marlborough Rose’ – welcome tipple
- 2019 Mahi Marlborough Sauv Blanc
- 2019 Mahi Boundary Farm Sauv Blanc
- 2019 Mahi Marlborough Chardonnay
- 2017 Mahi ‘Twin Valleys’ Chardonnay
- 2016 Mahi ‘The Trine’ Chardonnay
- 2019 Mahi Marlborough Pinot Noir
- 2019 Mahi ‘win Valleys’ Pinot Noir – pre-release, not for sale at the moment.
Central Otago: The New Zealand wine region with vineyards to rival Burgundy
Susy Atkins, Daily Telegraph UK | July 2024 The world’sRead more…