BABICH WINEMAKERS' RESERVE PINOT NOIR 2008
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
SILVER MEDAL
-Selections Monidale Canada, June 2010
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
"A beautifully perfumed nose displaying dark plum, cherry and savoury mushroom characters with a touch of cedary oak notes. It's ripe and well fruited on the palate showing lovely silky texture, a rounded mouthfeel and fine tannins. A very appealing Pinot with a nice seasoning of savoury flavours."
4.5 STARS
91 POINTS
-WineOrbit.co.nz, Sam Kim , March 2010
"Floral and sweet-fruited, with firm tannins underlying strong cherry, plum, herb and spice flavours, which show good complexity. Worth cellaring."
4 STARS
-Winestate Magazine March/April2010
"The soft fruity nose with forest floor hints leads to more soft, opulent fruit in the mouth combined with some toasty oak and tight, dusty tannins. Well made, honest wine."
-TiZwine.com, April 2010
"Classic pinot noir ruby, below midway. This is an elegant, fragrant, cherry-rich wine with beautiful florals, on red and black cherry fruit. Fleeting thoughts of Cote de Nuits occur, for there is lovely lift and finesse. Palate shows crisp black cherry more than red fruits. The depth of character implies a significant older-gravels / higher-clay component. This is the best pinot noir ever from Babich, who are real pioneers with the variety. They had clone bachtobel planted at Henderson in the 1970s, and their 1981 pinot noir won the first gold medal for the variety in New Zealand, on the strength of its highly floral (but also leafy) bouquet. Cellar 3 – 8 years."
4 STARS - 18 POINTS (/20)
VALUE
-Geoff Kelly, www.geoffkellywinereviews.co.nz, Feb, 2010
|
