Brian Bicknell and Murray Cook | The Marlborough Wine Podcast

In this month’s Marlborough Wine Podcast, winemakers Brian Bicknell and Murray Cook talk about Chardonnay – a variety that made up just 4.6% of New Zealand’s harvest in the 2023 vintage, but is getting a lot of attention right now. This recording is being released just before the Aotearoa New Zealand Chardonnay Symposium, running in early October in Te Matau-a-Māui Hawke’s Bay. It’s also nearly time for the Marlborough Pinot Boot camp, on November 23, which despite its name will be focused on Chardonnay as well.

Brian is the founder of boutique producer Mahi and has been a pioneering force in Marlborough’s wine industry for more than 20 years, devoted to the association of wine to place, along with hands off winemaking. That’s the focus he’ll have at the Chardonnay Symposium (hawkesbaywine.co.nz/symposium), where he will speak about single vineyard Chardonnay as part of The New Zealand Society for Viticulture and Oenology technical workshop.

Murray Cook is Winemaker at Dog Point Vineyards, having shifted his career plans to wine in 2003, after plans to ski in Central Otago were displaced by a pruning season. Twenty years on, Murray is part of the committee that organises an annual Pinot boot camp for Marlborough producers. Last year they moved the focus to Chardonnay, and they’re doing it again this year, bringing together a team of devoted producers to share knowledge, insights, and trial work.

Both Brian and Murray talk about their love of a variety that can be hard to find space for in Marlborough, where Sauvignon steals the limelight and accounts for 24,222 hectares of Marlborough’s planted area, which is just under 30,000ha. Chardonnay plantings are a small but beloved 1,000ha or so of the vineyard area, compared to Pinot Noir at 2637ha, and Pinot Gris at 1237ha. Companies like Mahi and Dog Point are committed to retaining a greater stake in the variety, and Brian and Murray talk about why Chardonnay needs to play a role in Marlborough’s wine story.

This podcast is made possible thanks to the support of Riversun Nursery