Claire Rogers - All about wine Every week I have the unenviable task of sampling a wine with a wine representative in order to bring you a cross section of wine to suit all prices and tastes in an easily digestible format (a tough assignment, I know).

A superb wine from Mahi! This 2007 Pinot Noir is a single-estate wine that expresses the particular vineyard from which it comes. The grapes are handpicked and the wines made simply with the focus being on gentle handling and indigenous yeast ferments.

The boutique vineyard is located in the Rapaura area of Marlborough, which is planted on the old Wairau riverbed. The shallow layer of silt overlying deep gravels provides excellent drainage and assists with the mid-palate weight. The vines are cropped low to ensure ripeness and palate richness.
This wine is made from two clones, the Dijon Clone 667 and also Clone 777. Both of these clones are from the relatively new ‘Dijon' series and provide great depth to the palate, with rich black fruit characters, while retaining a fine structure.
In the winery, the grapes were de-stemmed before going to small vats for cold soaking prior to fermentation, as this allows the abstraction of soft tannins and colour at the juice stage rather than in the harsher alcoholic stage during and after fermentation. The grapes were fermented solely with indigenous yeasts, an interesting range of yeasts that occurs naturally in the vineyard. During fermentation the tannins and the skins and juice were hand-plunged on average, three times per day.
Upon completion, the wine was taken straight to French barrique where it matured for 16 months. Once taken from wood, the wine was lightly fined with egg whites, then bottled unfiltered.
The wines of Mahi are not rushed to bottle, the emphasis being on correct storage which allows the wine to continue to develop in interest and complexity. Call into Gambino's on Grey Street and pick up a bottle on your way home. Enjoy!