BABICH WINEMAKERS' RESERVE PINOTAGE 2002  

Overview: 
Unique conditions over the summer/autumn 2002 period in Hawke’s Bay has produced red wines of stunning quality. Higher than average rainfall over summer gave us healthy leaf canopies – this, coupled with a particularly warm and dry ripening period from mid January to harvest in April delivered dark, ripe and flavourful grapes.

Grapes: 
100% Pinotage

Region:
Hawke`s Bay

Winemaker:
Adam Hazeldine

Recommended Food:
An excellent partner to a beef casserole piled over garlicky mashed potatoes, or with a platter of mixed salami served with olives, other nibbles and triangles of grilled pita bread. 

Recommended Cellaring:
2-6 years

Production Notes :
The grapes were harvested at a very ripe 25.4 brix, crushed and fermented on skins with frequent pump-overs during the height of ferment for extraction of colour and tannin. The wine was then run off into a blend of new and old American oak. After 12 months in barrel with frequent rackings the wine was blended and bottled.

Tasting Notes:
A rich and heady perfume of spice, Doris plum and ripe banana evolve from the glass and spill onto the palate which is warm and generous with sweet fruit and savoury, earthy notes. Soft with fine tannins, this wine leaves with a lingering impression of chocolate and plum pudding – decadent and delicious.

Awards:
SILVER MEDAL
-Liquorland Top 100 Wine Competition, New Zealand, 2004

SILVER MEDAL
-Air New Zealand Wine Awards, New Zealand, 2004

Reviews:
"Probably the best example of this South African cross of pinot noir and cinsaut produced in this country. A chunky, earthy, savoury Hawke's Bay wine with so much appeal that I can never work out why we drink so little of it. No effort required."
-Warren Barton, Christmas Wine Guide, December 2002

"This is one of the country's finest Pinotages - arguably the finest. Grown in Gimblett Road, Hawke's Bay, harvested at over 25 brix and matured for a year in new and seasoned French and American oak casks, the 2002 vintage is richly coloured and supple, with sweet-fruit delights and strong, plummy, spicy, gamey flavours. It's a delightful red, for drinking now onwards."
4 STARS
-Michael Cooper, Buyer's Guide to New Zealand Wines 2004

"Babich winemaker Adam Hazeldine made this wine with grapes grown on the Gimblett Gravels in Hawke's Bay, which he left hanging out for longer than their usual growing time to maximise the ripe taste in the wine. It worked a treat. The pinotage grape has relatively thick skin, which means it can handle that long hang time, and the result is this, the best Kiwi pinotage I've ever tasted. It is deliciously drinkable, warm, rich and spicy. This wine is so sensational you won't regret a single cent of its price tag."
-Joelle Thomson, NZ Herald, VIVA, 21st January, 2004
- 'Five Wines to Try', NZ Herald, January, 2004

“What a little beauty! Pinotage is a forgotten variety, but if this is what can be done with it, we say 'bring it back'! It's savoury on the nose, with a suggestion of mint chocolate. The flavour profile is broad and nicely fruited.”
-Tizwine.com Tasting Panel, May, 2004

"Densely coloured dark plum red, lovely ripe winey flavours with cedary oak and wild berries with a tamarillo-like tartness to the dusky finish. As the wine opens up the sweet vanillin American oak becomes more obvious, leaving a chocolatey richness to the finish. An excellent partner to lamb." 
-Sue Courtney, www.wineoftheweek.co.nz, 6th September, 2004

"Another classy pinotage, again from the Gimblett Gravels, that confounds the grape's reputation as a second-rater. Deep-coloured, with enticing aromas of clean, sweet fruit, it has a notably vibrant character and a slight peppery quality - qualities common in top examples of pinotage. Though high in alcohol (14%), it's a relatively light-bodied wine that goes well with spicy salami or pastrami."
-Karl Du Fresne, Sunday Magazine, Sunday Star Times, July, 2005

"Dark red. Richly echanting nose with a whiff of game and warm earth alongside some red fruit sweetness. Aromatic, elegant. Beautiful impact is all warm, earthy flavour with a mild intensity of red fruit and soft edged. Mid palate is bright, slightly brisk, deeply flavoured with fruit and showing an attractive spiciness. Finish is flavoursome, warm and richly textured with mellow tannins to a dry, sweet fruit shadow of flavour at the very end."
-Keith Stewart, Sommnet Website, 6 July, 2006