Grapes:
100% Pinot Noir
Region:
Marlborough
Winemaker:
Adam Hazeldine
Recommended Food:
A good partner for a char-grilled Scotch fillet steak topped with grilled flat mushrooms.
Recommended Cellaring:
1-5 years
Production Notes:
The various parcels of fruit were harvested at optimum ripeness and fermented in open vats, 7% whole cluster. After an extended period of maceration the various batches were drained off skins and put into new and old French oak barriques. After 12 months the wines were assessed and blended then returned to oak for a further two months. This wine is a blend of five clones predominately 667, Abel and CL13.
Tasting Notes:
A brooding nose packed with dark cherry, earth and spice, and a touch of vanilla. The palate is a complete package, full, evenly layered with dark forest fruits and leather and spice. The finish is augmented with fine tannins and a touch of cedar from the quality oak. This wine is drinking very well now but will age gracefully.
Awards:
GOLD MEDAL
-New Zealand International Wine Show, September 2009
GOLD MEDAL
-Air New Zealand Wine Awards, November, 2009
4 STARS
-Winestate Magazine March/April2010
Reviews:
"Babich made history by winning the first gold medal for a New Zealand Pinot Noir back in the early 1980s. The devotion to quality continues with this taut, focused wine, brimming with red-berry fruit."
4 STARS
-Cuisine Magazine, October 2009 issue
"Ruby-hued, mouthfilling and supple, with cherryish, spicy, moderately complex flavours, showing very good depth."
-Michael Cooper's Wine Buyer's guide to New Zealand Wines 2010
