THE PATRIARCH 2007
Overview:
The Patriarch is our flagship red wine. With this wine we allow ourselves complete flexibility in order to make the best we can – we are not committed to a particular variety or blend, crop levels are very restricted and it is only produced when we feel we have attained exceptional quality.
Grapes:
49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Malbec, 22% Cabernet Franc
Region:
Hawke's Bay - Gimblett Gravels
Winemakers:
Adam Hazeldine
Recommended Food:
Ideal with roasted red meats. It makes a good partner for a whole fillet beef, roasted rare. Also perfect with a tasty winter casseroled stew.
Recommended Cellaring:
4-15 years
Production Notes:
Parcels of fruit where hand harvested and hand plunged in traditional concrete vats. Some of the grapes underwent a cold soak prior to fermentation, with all receiving an extended maceration period on skins after ferment. The new wines were drained to small French oak barriques, to mature.
Tasting Notes:
This is a serious yet warm, dark and inviting wine. The concentrated aromas of currents, dusty blackberries and cocoa excite the nose and lead to hints of dried herbs, violets and vanilla. Dark forest fruits, leather and spice arrive sumptuously on the palate and integrate perfectly with smooth, dense, mouth-coating tannins. Savoury notes linger on the satisfying and complete finish. A hand crafted wine of quality that will age gracefully for many years.
Awards:
SILVER MEDAL
-Royal Easter Show Wine Awards 2010
SILVER MEDAL
-Hawke's Bay Wine Awards 2009
Reviews:
"The 2007 brings a return to form. Dense and youthful in colour, it is powerful, with very concentrated blackcurrant and spice flavours, hints of coffee and dark chocolate, firm tannins, and obvious potential."
5 STARS
-Michael Cooper's Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wine 2010
"Densely coloured, powerful and highly concentrated, this should be a 10-year wine - at least. A Hawke's Bay blend of cabernet sauvignon (49%), malbec (29%) and cabernet franc (22%), it is savoury and complex, with bold blackcurrant, spice, coffee and dark chocolate flavours, ripe, firm and long. Open 2012+."
5 STARS
-Winestate Magazine, March 2010
"Named after Josip Babich, founder of Babich Wines in 1916, this offering is glossy, squid-ink black in colour and incredibly concentrated on the nose with black guava, smoky cedar and blackberry characters. It's a blend of cabernet sauvignon, malbec and cabernet franc that's dense and powerfully built and only made in years when the fruit is exemplary."
5 STARS
-Yvonne Lorkin, Hawke's Bay Today, 12 June 2010
"A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Cabernet Franc from an excellent vintage. Cabernet's powerful cedar and blackberry flavours dominate against a background of plum and savoury oak. Serious red with an equally serious future."
5 STARS
94 POINTS
-Bob Campbell, www.bobswinereviews.co.nz, 2010
"Named in honour of winery founder Josip Babich, this Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec Cabernet Franc is a powerful wine, worthy of the cellar. Cassis and mixed berry notes meet spice and mocha on the nose, and the palate is warm, rich and densely textured. Needs time to blossom fully. Serve with rump steak."
4.5 STARS
TOP 5 - NZ Cabernet and Blends
-Cuisine Magazine, Sep 2010
"Ruby, carmine and velvet, not as dense as the top wines, but a lovely colour. Bouquet is floral with violets, again in the cassis and bottled black doris berry style, with fragrant and potentially cedary French oak adding complexity. Palate is intriguing, exceptional cassis, the floral quality extending right through beautiful gentle berry fruit, not as rich as some but elegant throughout. This is a real northern Medoc look-alike. It has been a long wait for Babich Patriarch to be cropped at a rate allowing the flavours of proper Bordeaux-like ripeness to be evident, and thus be truly a gold medal wine. This result is therefore very welcome, to someone who has monitored their cabernet sauvignons from the first release in the '70s."
5 STARS
18.5 POINTS (/20)
-Geoff Kelly Wine Reviews, Aug 2010
"A blend of 49% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Malbec and 22% Cabernet Franc, this exquisitely fine red shows plenty of power as well as grace. The nose is opulent and fragrant displaying dark plum, cassis, cedar and subtle spice characters. It's concentrated and richly flavoured on the palate with velvety texture and plenty of ripe tannins. A superbly gratifying wine. At its best: now to 2020."
95 POINTS
5 STARS
-Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2010
"Babich's top of the range Bordeaux Blend and deservedly so. Built to last it has black cassis aromas that are joined in the palate by spicy plums. The results is a powerful dense wine with grippy tannins and great length. The perfect Winter Warmer."
4.5 STARS
TOP TIP
-TiZwine.com, 30 August 2010
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