Babich Marlborough Pinot Gris 2008

Winemaker Notes

Region: 
Marlborough

Recommended Food:
Works well with snapper fillets, rolled in fresh breadcrumbs and shallow fried, or with hot baked ham and glazed kumara.

Recommended Cellaring:
0-4 years

Production Notes:
Parcels of grapes were harvested when physiologically ripe from several of our vineyards in Marlborough. The vineyards with heavier soils add weight to the wine, where the lighter soils bring varietal aromatics. In the winery 85% of juice was fermented in tank at various temperatures and with various yeast to capture varietal character and build interest. The balance 15% was fermented in old French oak and lees stirred to increase the body and complexity of the wine.

Tasting Notes:
The lifted aromas of spice, pear and orange blossom greet the taster. The palate is luscious, with glazed pears and a creamy lees complexity with a moderate acidity that balances the wine and retains a degree of freshness. This wine has a lengthy palate with creaminess and a pleasing minerality that lingers, rounding off a superb wine.

Awards

4 STARS -Geoff Kelly, www.geoffkellywinereviews.co.nz

88 POINTS -Neal Martin, Wine Advocate Issue #184, Sep 2009 

Wine Writer Reviews

"Whilst still very young there is some real potential here. This is a big wine with strong peach characters in the sweet, ripe fruit. Thus it is richer and more opulent than many Pinot Gris."
-TiZwine.com, May 2009

"Straw, a faint orange flush. Bouquet is gorgeous, exactly what one of the now well-established styles of good New Zealand pinot gris smells like, even allowing there may be a splash of gewurztraminer in it [ yes – later inquiry shows that like the lovely Astrolabe wine, there are augmenting varieties in this wine ]. Bouquet therefore shows the varietal complexity such pinot gris can have, when not over-ripened. There is good fruit with aromas of rosepetal, white nectarines and sultanas steeped in warm water, and a suggestion of high solids which at this level can be positive. There are reminders here of Alsatian pinot gris taken through to the vendage tardive stage too, just a suggestion of dried peaches. Palate wraps all these characters into a fruit-rich flavour, the varietal phenolics covered by subtle residual sugar, the whole wine long with some body as befits its pinot heritage, but not quite as rich as the bouquet promised. This is exciting wine, illustrating a delightful light fragrant style contrasting with all-too-often overly alcoholic pear-flesh examples – usually as a consequence of over-ripening it. Finish is long on stonefruits, surprisingly ‘dry’, inside the dry riesling class. Cellar 2 – 6 years."
4 STARS
-www.geoffkellywinereviews.co.nz

"An attractively scented wine, full-bodied, with very good depth of ripe stone-fruit and spice flavours, finely balanced acidity and a dry finish."
-Michael Cooper's Wine Buyers Guide to New Zealand Wines 2010

"A gently framed Pinot Gris showing ripe peach, citrus and a hint of flinty characters on the nose. The palate is fruity and smooth with subtle sweetness and nicely balanced acidity providing a crisp dry finish."
-Sam Kim, Wine Orbit, Aug 2010

"The 2008 Pinot Gris has a clean crisp nose with touches of peach and pear. Well balanced on the palate, nice definition, slight waxy texture with pear and gooseberry on the finish. Drink over the next year."
88 POINTS
-Neal Martin, Wine Advocate Issue #184, Sep 2009 

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