Silky Marlborough Pinot — bright cherry, gentle spice, a soft welcoming finish.
$28.00
750ml13% alc.Vintage may change. If it does, we’ll notify you of any price adjustment before dispatch.
About
Babich's Marlborough Pinot Noir is drawn from the region's prime subregions, all 100% certified sustainable vineyards. The producer's own line sums it up: silky where it should be and expressive where it counts — bright cherry and plum with delicate spice and an earthy undertone, finishing soft and dry. Fermented in open vats with full malolactic fermentation and fined with pea protein rather than animal products, it comes from a family firm that was first to win a New Zealand Gold Medal for Pinot Noir back in the early 1980s and has made this wine since 1997.
Most of the fruit comes from the Waihopai Valley, where Babich farms two of its eight Marlborough estates. Cowslip Valley sits on glacial outwash with clay loams. Echelon sits on silt loam. Long sunny days and cool nights across the region keep the aromatics intact.
Six clones go into the 2024, including Abel and the Dijon clones 777, 667 and 114. The grapes are de-stemmed but not crushed and given a short cold soak. The ferment runs up to 32 degrees with minimal plunging, then sits on skins a while longer. The wine spends several months in barrel.
The winemaker finds raspberry and strawberry with tar, dried herbs and leather in the 2024. Cedar spice and dusty fine tannins carry the finish. Babich suggests strongly flavoured food beside it: balsamic-marinated steak, salami, artichokes, olives and sun-dried tomatoes.
Structure
Grape
Picked on Stef's structure profile.
