Wine Region	Marlborough, New Zealand
Wine Maker	Brian Bicknell
Mahi, meaning ‘our work, our craft’, began in 2001, fulfilling a dream for Brian and Nicola Bicknell. With a strong focus on single-vineyard wines from Marlborough, the idea behind Mahi is to respect and promote the individuality of the various vineyards, their soils and their aspects.
The Mahi symbol represents the strength, life and growth of the native New Zealand frond (fern), with the understanding that wine should never be rushed to bottle, respecting its ability to evolve naturally over time.
There were a number of factors that came together to initiate the first wines of Mahi in 2001. Winemaker Brian Bicknell had made wine in various parts of the world for about fifteen vintages and had been making wine with grapes from Marlborough for most of that time. Having arrived from Chile to live in Marlborough in 1996 he could see that the various valleys and sites within Marlborough were making quite different styles of wines. Most of the Marlborough wines at the time were being blended across the different areas, with the different characteristics being lost in the construction of a truly regional blend. In other areas of the world these differences were being celebrated and so the idea of a label celebrating these different sites was hatched.
At the same time many Marlborough wineries were getting bigger and there was comment in the international press that Marlborough was perhaps losing some of its personality and many of the wines tasted the same. The obvious solution was to use a new label to show these differences so that people could see that Marlborough had true depth and complexity across the region.
The style of winemaking was also aimed at allowing the vineyards to speak through the wines, with the wines being made in a very ‘hands-off’ manner. The primary emphasis for all the wines is texture, aiming for wines that give real palate satisfaction rather than fruit-bomb styles.  For the single-vineyard wines the fruit is hand-picked and sorted prior to being ‘whole-cluster’ pressed at the winery. Fermentation is most often done with the indigenous yeasts that arrive on the grapes, and if barrels are used these will be French, as they give a more savoury character to the wines. With the Pinot Noir everything is hand-plunged and to date all have been bottled unfiltered, allowing the true vineyard expression to come through.
Looking forward the focus will remain on exhibiting the quality and diversity of the wines from the Marlborough region. We will continue to seek out the vineyards for the various varieties and remain at a size that allows us to remain intimately connected with the vineyards and wines. Philosophy behind Mahi One of the many things that we love about wine is that it is such a true reflection of its place. It is the way that is shows the differences between vineyards that was the inspiration for the start of Mahi. To make wines in as natural a way as possible from great vineyards is a constant enjoyment, and then to see these wines through to the bottle, watch them slowly evolve, and to enjoy them at the table with friends is incredibly satisfying.
What the critics have to say!
“This is a name to watch: quantities are tiny as yet, but the quality is high, thanks to Bicknell’s great energy, attention to detail and restless quest for quality.” Huon Hooke