Mahi Sauvignon Blanc 2019

100% Sauvignon Blanc. In 2001, Brian and Nicola Bicknell decided to start a small winery in Marlborough, New Zealand. Brian had been making wine in various parts of the world for fifteen years at that point, including France, Hungary, and Chile, and he wanted to lay his roots back home in New Zealand. They started Mahi because they had a true passion for the great vineyard sites of Marlborough and felt that the personality of Marlborough was getting lost. Starting in ’01 with just a 1.5-hectare parcel, the total production of Mahi is now around 10,000 cases, a tiny amount when compared to the gigantic wineries that Marlborough has become known for. The name Mahi was chosen as it means “your work, your craft” in the indigenous Maori language. For the Bicknell's, wine is their passion and their craft, and they aim at creating wines with texture and a sense of place through sorting in the vineyard of their seven estate vineyards, hand-picking, some whole cluster pressing, indigenous fermentations, and minimalist winemaking. The Mahi Sauvignon Blanc comes from seven different estate vineyards. The hand-picked fruit was whole-cluster-pressed so that the time on skins was minimized. A portion of this juice, 7% this year, was barrel-fermented in older French oak to give greater weight, though ensuring that wood is not evident on the nose. The balance of the wine was fermented cool in stainless steel to retain the fruit characters from our vineyards. 22% of the cuvee was fermented with native yeast. People have a certain way of thinking about Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand, well, throw that out the window when you open up Mahi's bottling. This is really what New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is all about.