Mahi

Mahi Pinot Noir, Marlborough (2023)

£23.50

2023 • 75cl • 13.5%

Red • Light & Elegant • Pinot Noir

The Marlborough Pinot that broke ranks - built on individual sites, not the regional blend, by the man who set out to prove they were worth it.

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Mahi - "our work" in Maori - is the project of Brian Bicknell, who returned to Marlborough in the 1990s convinced its valleys were being flattened into one regional style. His answer was to chase the character of individual sites rather than blend it away, and the wines made his name for exactly that.

This Pinot Noir draws on two contrasting vineyards: the cooler Fareham Road end of Twin Valleys, which gives the wine its firm, fine-grained structure, and Ward, well south of Blenheim, which brings darker, deeper fruit. The fruit is hand-picked and largely de-stemmed, fermented with wild indigenous yeasts, then aged in French oak barriques. The approach is deliberately hands-off, built around texture and earthy, herby depth rather than sweet, upfront fruit.

The result is full-coloured and supple, with wild raspberry and dark cherry over a subtle forest-floor earthiness and real palate weight. Serve a little cool, around 14-16°C.

The 2023 Vintage

2023 was a cool, even-paced season across Marlborough, the kind of year that ripens slowly and holds its freshness rather than racing to sugar. That measured ripening is what gives this vintage its clarity - bright, precise red fruit and a lifted, energetic line of acidity, with tannins that come through fine and elegant rather than firm. A Pinot that stays light on its feet right down the glass.

The Fulham Wine Co Take

This is Marlborough Pinot doing the harder, more interesting thing - texture and earthy depth over easy fruit, because Bicknell built the whole estate on the idea that the sites deserved it. Drink it now for the perfume and the supple weight, or give it two or three years to deepen. The one to reach for if you think New Zealand Pinot can't be serious.

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Mahi

Established in 2001 by visionary winemaker Brian Bicknell, Mahi translates to "our work, our craft" in Te Reo Māori. Rejecting the mass-blended style of commercial Marlborough, the estate is fiercely dedicated to single-vineyard expressions and minimal intervention. By utilizing wild yeast fermentations and subtle barrel maturation, Mahi crafts profoundly textural, deeply layered whites and elegant, perfumed reds. These are authentic, site-specific masterpieces that champion the nuanced, savory, and complex soul of Marlborough rather than just its explosive fruit.

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Marlborough

Marlborough is the wine that put New Zealand on the map - the home of Sauvignon Blanc so bright and unmistakable it became a style other countries now chase. At the sunny northern tip of the South Island, intense daylight and cool sea-tempered nights give the wines their punchy citrus and green-herb lift. But it has quietly become serious Pinot Noir country too, the same long cool autumns giving reds of genuine elegance. New Zealand's calling card, in white and red.

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