Winery Profile: Mahi was developed by Brian Bicknell, a talented winemaker who made wine for Errazuriz in Chile before returning to New Zealand to become winemaker at Seresin. In 2001, while still at Seresin, Bicknell began making wine under his own Mahi label. – a reaction against the trend to blend wines from many sites. His experience inspired him to focus on producing wines of texture rather than the fruit-bomb Marlborough styles that dominate the market. His single-vineyard wines are hand-picked and whole-cluster pressed. Fermentation is achieved using indigenous yeasts. Pinot noir is hand-plunged and, to date has been bottled unfiltered. ( Bob Campbell MW)

Description: Full-coloured, with a fragrant, spicy bouquet, this wine is mouthfilling, ripe and supple with good complexity. Rich cherries and plums combine with soft tannins to give a well-rounded finish.Robert Parker: Wine Advocate Issue #184 Sep 2009, Reviewer Neal Martin - The 2007 Marlborough Pinot Noir is sourced from three vineyards, de-stemmed, wild fermented, left on skins for 1-2 weeks run into barrel for 11 months with 10% new oak. Very lifted and aromatic on the nose with lush raspberry and wild strawberry, a hint of chalk dust. The palate is medium-bodied, soft at first but then there is some nice edgy acidity with a rounded finish that has notes of bilberry and cassis.
Jancis Robinson: Tasted 7 Sept 2009 - Three different vineyards. Hand-plunged, all fermented with wild yeasts, all hand- picked. Sorting table. All wild yeast.
Not that powerful on the nose. Pretty and relatively lean. Clean and lean. Lots of acidity.
Stephen Tanzer: Sept/Oct 09 by Stephen Tanzer - Medium red. Spicy aromas of cassis, blueberry, mace, cinnamon and flowers. Then fat and sweet in the mouth, with a slightly high-toned oakiness to the black and blue fruit flavors. With its suggestion of boysenberry and faint meatiness, this is darker in character than the overwhelming majority of New Zealand pinots. In fact, I found this a bit syrah-like!Decanter: Steven Spurrier, Decanter May 2009 ( re 2007) Best New World Red -  "Brian Bicknell, behind the early successes of Seresin, is making truly remarkable Pinot, Sauvignon and Chardonnay from his own Mahi winery. This has dense, pure and expressive vineyard fruit, magnificent balance and length – a new benchmark for NZ"
Bob Campbell MW, bobswinereviews.com, 94pts - "Made from hand-picked grapes selected from three Marlborough vineyards. The grapes were destemmed but not crushed to give more pronounced fruit characters and soft tannins. This is one of the most charming Marlborough Pinot Noirs I've tasted with a pleasing mix of floral, cherry and ripe plum flavours. It's a lovely, fruity wine offering great value at this price.Vinification: In the winery the grapes were destemmed 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 then fermented solely with indigenous yeasts offering a wide variety of flavours and helping us to attain great texture. During fermentation the skins and juice were hand-plunged on average three times per day. When finished the wine was taken straight to French barriques where it sat for 11 months. The wine was then gently racked, blended, and lightly fined with organic egg whites before bottling.