June 5, 2024 • 7 mins
This week we talk, Babich Wines is the oldest family-owned winemaking company in New Zealand and a leading NZ wine brands.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the cricket field to the cow shed. It's the
Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Time to catch up with Michael Cooper and talk wine
today and this week we're going to talk about Babbage Wine. So,
Michael Babbage has been around a long time in New Zealand,
haven't they.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
They certainly have the hundredth anniversary. I remember going to
a celebration dinner, you know, and that was now eight
years ago, So that's amazing to think that with Babbage.
The first wine was produced in nineteen sixteen, and I
was lucky enough to know the founder because I worked
(00:49):
at the Babbage Winery when I was a university student
and then when after I graduated, so I was there
from nineteen seventy five to nineteen ninety so for eight
years I knew the founder, Yossip Babbitch and Yossip was
number one, really friendly. We used to talk books all
the time. And he lived to the age of eighty seven.
(01:10):
But he came to New Zealand in nineteen ten when
he was only fourteen years old. Came from Dalmatia in
Croatia and he joined his brothers who were then working
on the gum fields up north and he made his
first wine up there in nineteen sixteen. At the same
time he and his brothers were buying land in the
(01:31):
Henderson Valley and then gradually the company headquarters became established
in the Henderson Valley where they are to this day.
But over the decades Babbage initially, like in the nineteen eighties,
started planting in Hawke's Bay quite apart from the home
vineyard in West Auckland, and then subsequently they have established
(01:55):
extensive vineyards in Marlborough. So they ended up with vineyards Auckton,
Maulbrehawk and wineries in Auckland and in Marlborough.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Their claim is to be in New Zealand's most what
experienced family owned winery.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That's correct, and when you look at it, that's a
completely fair claim New Zealand's most experienced family owned winery
because over that century plus it's remained in the family's
hands both financially and in terms of the management. And
so that's one of the striking things about Babbage today.
(02:32):
The company is run by two grandsons of Yossa. There's
David Babbage and Andre Babbitt, so they divide the key
tasks between them, they've become very export focused. They've got
a very strong presence in the United States where their
malc you know, has got very strong sales. There's also
(02:53):
a Babbage. The history of Babbage, they've always seen as
a very good value winery, and that's they were seen
in the nineteen eighties, for example, when I was working there.
The other sort of aspect of the wines is they're
not brash, that they don't go for sort of outright impact.
They've always sort of tried to emphasize delicacy and finesse,
(03:17):
and I think that reflects Joe Babbitch, who was the
middle generation wine maker and the one who really lifted
the quality level of the wine, say through the seventies,
eighties and nineties, where he was like chief winemaker at
the National Wine Show, and he was quite highly regarded
for his wines from the Iron Gate Vineyard and Hawks
(03:39):
Bay and so on.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So you've just been you've just received a batch of
their latest wines, and you've selected a couple to tell
us about. So let's hear from you.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Well, the Pino Gree Babbage mold for Pino Gree twenty
twenty three. I think for Peno Gree lovers is well
worth tasting. Now you can buy the for twenty dollars
or less. I've seen some online retailers offering it for
as low as sixteen, so that's pretty sharp pricing. It's
already delicious. It's full bodied. It's had a little bit
(04:13):
of barrel fermentation which adds a bit of extra character
to the wine and complexity, and it's got strong, vibrant, peachy,
gently spicy flavors. It's dryish, not quite bone dry, but
so it's smooth, very harmonious and delicious. Now, so that's
the Babbage Maldrepeno Gree twenty twenty three, aim for anything
(04:37):
the range of sixteen to twenty dollars now for a
red wine as an example of the sort of finesse
that I mentioned before. Now this one's in the more
expensive range, but it really is drinking well now. And
that's the Babbage iron Gate read from twenty eighteen. So
that's on the market now. It's six years old. Babbage
(04:59):
iron Gate Gravels Cabinet, Merlow, twenty eighteen. Now this is
going to cost listeners anywhere between say thirty seven and
forty five dollars, but what you get for your money
is a very refined cabinet merlow. It's been in French
oak bariks for over a year. It's dark, it's full bodied, savory.
(05:20):
It's got rich right black currant, plumb and spice flavors.
It's got the complexity that comes from the oak aging.
It's got terrific sort of backbone and vigor. I mean,
you could easily just put this in the cellar, buy
a few bottles and just open the bottle, you know,
once a year for the next six years. It's going
to flourish est of wine to buy and drink now,
(05:43):
which I think sums the company up. And this is
their biggest production wine, the one that they send a
lot of, particularly to America, and that's the Babbage Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc twenty twenty three, which is available that most
retailers at twenty dollars. It's fresh, it's vigorous, it's rightly scented. Now,
(06:06):
the Babbage style of sauvignon blanc is not one of
those sort of jump out of the glass, high impact,
grassy styles. They've always been more interested in making a
sauvignon blanc that is full bodied, weighty, with good ripe
tropical fruit flavors, sort of in moderate acidity, so it's
(06:27):
rather than a grassy, really punchy style, it's more of
a sort of a rich, full bodied, dry riper tropical
passion fruit lime flavored wine. And it really just sums
up the company style and it's the style that the
Americans like in Sauvignon blanc. So that's Babbage Malda Souvinion
(06:48):
Blanc twenty twenty three at about twenty dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Fantastic, Michael, great to catch up. Look forward to atcha
again next week. Hair and Bread we bottle of white
From the cricket field to the cow shed. It's the
Country Sport Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Time to catch up with Michael Cooper and talk wine
today and this week we're going to talk about Babbage Wine. So,
Michael Babbage has been around a long time in New Zealand,
haven't they.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
They certainly have the hundredth anniversary. I remember going to
a celebration dinner, you know, and that was now eight
years ago, So that's amazing to think that with Babbage.
The first wine was produced in nineteen sixteen, and I
was lucky enough to know the founder because I worked
(00:49):
at the Babbage Winery when I was a university student
and then when after I graduated, so I was there
from nineteen seventy five to nineteen ninety so for eight
years I knew the founder, Yossip Babbitch and Yossip was
number one, really friendly. We used to talk books all
the time. And he lived to the age of eighty seven.
(01:10):
But he came to New Zealand in nineteen ten when
he was only fourteen years old. Came from Dalmatia in
Croatia and he joined his brothers who were then working
on the gum fields up north and he made his
first wine up there in nineteen sixteen. At the same
time he and his brothers were buying land in the
(01:31):
Henderson Valley and then gradually the company headquarters became established
in the Henderson Valley where they are to this day.
But over the decades Babbage initially, like in the nineteen eighties,
started planting in Hawke's Bay quite apart from the home
vineyard in West Auckland, and then subsequently they have established
(01:55):
extensive vineyards in Marlborough. So they ended up with vineyards Auckton,
Maulbrehawk and wineries in Auckland and in Marlborough.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
Their claim is to be in New Zealand's most what
experienced family owned winery.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
That's correct, and when you look at it, that's a
completely fair claim New Zealand's most experienced family owned winery
because over that century plus it's remained in the family's
hands both financially and in terms of the management. And
so that's one of the striking things about Babbage today.
(02:32):
The company is run by two grandsons of Yossa. There's
David Babbage and Andre Babbitt, so they divide the key
tasks between them, they've become very export focused. They've got
a very strong presence in the United States where their
malc you know, has got very strong sales. There's also
(02:53):
a Babbage. The history of Babbage, they've always seen as
a very good value winery, and that's they were seen
in the nineteen eighties, for example, when I was working there.
The other sort of aspect of the wines is they're
not brash, that they don't go for sort of outright impact.
They've always sort of tried to emphasize delicacy and finesse,
(03:17):
and I think that reflects Joe Babbitch, who was the
middle generation wine maker and the one who really lifted
the quality level of the wine, say through the seventies,
eighties and nineties, where he was like chief winemaker at
the National Wine Show, and he was quite highly regarded
for his wines from the Iron Gate Vineyard and Hawks
(03:39):
Bay and so on.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So you've just been you've just received a batch of
their latest wines, and you've selected a couple to tell
us about. So let's hear from you.
Speaker 1 (03:50):
Well, the Pino Gree Babbage mold for Pino Gree twenty
twenty three. I think for Peno Gree lovers is well
worth tasting. Now you can buy the for twenty dollars
or less. I've seen some online retailers offering it for
as low as sixteen, so that's pretty sharp pricing. It's
already delicious. It's full bodied. It's had a little bit
(04:13):
of barrel fermentation which adds a bit of extra character
to the wine and complexity, and it's got strong, vibrant, peachy,
gently spicy flavors. It's dryish, not quite bone dry, but
so it's smooth, very harmonious and delicious. Now, so that's
the Babbage Maldrepeno Gree twenty twenty three, aim for anything
(04:37):
the range of sixteen to twenty dollars now for a
red wine as an example of the sort of finesse
that I mentioned before. Now this one's in the more
expensive range, but it really is drinking well now. And
that's the Babbage iron Gate read from twenty eighteen. So
that's on the market now. It's six years old. Babbage
(04:59):
iron Gate Gravels Cabinet, Merlow, twenty eighteen. Now this is
going to cost listeners anywhere between say thirty seven and
forty five dollars, but what you get for your money
is a very refined cabinet merlow. It's been in French
oak bariks for over a year. It's dark, it's full bodied, savory.
(05:20):
It's got rich right black currant, plumb and spice flavors.
It's got the complexity that comes from the oak aging.
It's got terrific sort of backbone and vigor. I mean,
you could easily just put this in the cellar, buy
a few bottles and just open the bottle, you know,
once a year for the next six years. It's going
to flourish est of wine to buy and drink now,
(05:43):
which I think sums the company up. And this is
their biggest production wine, the one that they send a
lot of, particularly to America, and that's the Babbage Marlborough
Sauvignon Blanc twenty twenty three, which is available that most
retailers at twenty dollars. It's fresh, it's vigorous, it's rightly scented. Now,
(06:06):
the Babbage style of sauvignon blanc is not one of
those sort of jump out of the glass, high impact,
grassy styles. They've always been more interested in making a
sauvignon blanc that is full bodied, weighty, with good ripe
tropical fruit flavors, sort of in moderate acidity, so it's
(06:27):
rather than a grassy, really punchy style, it's more of
a sort of a rich, full bodied, dry riper tropical
passion fruit lime flavored wine. And it really just sums
up the company style and it's the style that the
Americans like in Sauvignon blanc. So that's Babbage Malda Souvinion
(06:48):
Blanc twenty twenty three at about twenty dollars.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Fantastic, Michael, great to catch up. Look forward to atcha
again next week. Hair and Bread we bottle of white
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