Mahi Sauvignon Blanc, understanding Marlborough’s terroir

Brian Bicknell, winemaker and owner of Mahi Wines, was in town recently to host a Sauvignon Blanc blending class, and I was one of the lucky one to be invited.

Before the blending exercise/competition, Brian explained the topography, geography and climate of Marlborough and how they interplay. I’ve been to Marlborough a couple of times (before my wine time) and also listened to other people talking the different valleys in Marlborough before but Brian’s explanation, together with his simple drawing, was clear and easy to understand. Mahi’s website even has a video from Google Earth to illustrate their different vineyard locations. It is entertaining yet informative!

Brian brought along four pairs blending components - tank samples just finished fermentation. They were:
1. wines from grapes grown different vineyards (Ward Farm and Wadworth),
2. wines using different oak regime (new oak and old barrels),
3. wines using different yeast fermentation (wild yeast and neutral cultured yeast),
4. different pressings (free run juice and pressed juice).

We first tasted the different component and it is interesting. The Ward Farm wine has a more precise acidity while the Wayworth wine has a broader mid-palate. The new barrel wine has a more creamy mouthfeel with added complexity; the wild yeast fermentation wine has a broader palette and the pressed wine is more structured. After the tasting, Brian grouped us into five teams to come up with our ideal blend in 10 minutes. Our team first blended all components in equal proportion then adjusted accordingly. OK, we didn’t win but we like what we blended.

Prior to bledning, Brian showed us three of his Sauvignon Blancs:

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc 2015: a blend from six different vineyards and included both barrel fermented wine (12%) and wild yeast wine (10%) but no pressed wine. The wine is surprisingly subtle and elegant, with ripe fruits but not pungent.

Boundary Farm Sauvignon Blanc 2013: a single vineyard wine from the warmer site Boundary Farm. The wine was barrel fermented with wild yeasts and minimal handling to express the terroir. It is complex with texture and depth.

Boundary Farm Sauvignon Blanc 2010: An older single vineyard wine from Boundary Farm with the winemaking method. Brian wanted to show us Sauvignon Blanc can age. and he was right. The wine has more savoury notes along the style of a Sancerre.

By the way, Mahi is a Maori word meaning ‘our craft, our work’. Brian believes wine is a great example of place. However, even if you have a grand cru vineyard but management is poor, it will be shown in the grapes and the subsequent wine. His philosophy is to allow the vineyards to speak through the wines. I kind of give up on Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (and I know I’m not the only one)  but Brian’s Mahi Wines changed my opinion.

Mahi Wines is available from Altaya Wines

O:TU - a combination of wine excellence and marketing discipline

The PR office of O:TU Wine has been trying to organising a tasting between me and their winemaker Jan Kux on and off for a year, and we finally met just a few weeks ago. At first, I thought Jan was just another high-flying businessman turned winemaker who preferred to spend more time in Europe and therefore had to use a PR office to organise his meetings. Our conversation changed my impression.

Yes, winemaking was a second thought for Jan—he studied law and languages originally before deciding to switch to winemaking. Since then, he has accumulated over 20 years experience working in wineries in Germany, Alsace and Bordeaux, to name a few. Apart from running O:TU, he is also a consultant to several wineries in Europe.

A jet-setter he may be, but Jan is certainly not pretentious. Otuwhero Estates, the former O:TU, went into receivership in 2008 and the new owners went to Jan seeking help reviving the business. Apart from making the wine, he is also hands on with the selling and marketing side. While he respects terroir—we did talk about the different kind of soils in the 200ha vineyard—he believes even more in communicating with customers. The packaging has to strike a chord with the target audience and at the same time reflect the wine.

The result is a bold yet understated label, a combination of classic European and modern styling. Jan makes three Sauvignon Blancs, each with a defined market. O:TU Sauvignon Blanc, with vibrant green lettering on the label, is created with the young woman in mind, light and refreshing with a touch of residual sugar, while the more complex blend:102 with riper fruit and warmer-toned packaging is aimed at the more experienced consumer. The latest blend: 202, still in barrel at the moment, is a robust, food-friendly wine and no doubt will have a label to match.

But O:TU is about more than labels. A striking label may help sell a wine once, but if you want repeat purchases it needs quality to back it up. O:TU certainly has the typical Marlborough tropical fruit aromas, but all the wines are aged on fine lees until bottling, giving that extra mouthfeel and complexity to subdue the pungency and add a touch of Old World character.

Some wine professionals dismiss packaging, averring that consumers should judge a wine solely by its content. However, with thousands of brands around, having both the label and the quality can give the edge. Jan’s winemaking philosophy is about beauty, art, culture and appreciation of nature combined with a scientific approach. I couldn't agree more with this.

Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc with a twist

It was a pleasant surprise to have tasted this wine at a recent tasting organised by Sogrape. I was expecting the overtly pungent fruit driven Sauvignon Blanc that is typical of Marlborough, but Framingham’s is more subtle. It still has all the characters of a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc but they are toned down, and with added complexity and creamy mouthfeel. A chat with winemaker Andrew Hedley revealed that the grapes were sourced from eight different sites and were fermented in batches, some in stainless steel at cool rather than cold temperature to avoid the estery characters, and some in barrels at even higher temperature. The finished wine was left on lees for a few months with partial malo-lactic fermentation before final blending. No wonder it has such a nice texture and subtlety. Andrew explained that most of their sales come from restaurants and therefore they have to make food-friendly wine. Typical Sauvignon Blanc tends to be too pungent and overpowers the food. He certainly has a point!

I also tried his Classic Riesling, an off dry style again fermented at cool temperature and left on lees for a few months. I liked the wide spectrum of flavours, the firm structure and the nicely balanced residual sugar. Framingham was among the second generation of producers in Marlborough and one of the first to have planted Riesling. They make a range of Rieslings from dry and off-dry to botrytis infected sweet wine, all in relative small volumes. Framingham has ten wines under the label and an experimental F-series that uses different winemaking techniques.

I like their philosophy of trying different varieties (they have a Montepulciano) and have adopted both New and Old World winemaking techniques rather than joining the bandwagon to make standardised Sauvignon Blanc. I wish more wineries could be as daring. Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc may have put New Zealand on the wine map, but it’s time to move on.

By the way, Framingham Point Noir 2009 was a double trophy winner at the 2011 Cathay Pacific Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit Competition, snatching both Best Pinot Noir and Best New World Pinot Noir. Their wines are available from Leung Yick Co Ltd.