BABICH IRONGATE CABERNET SAUVIGNON / MERLOT / FRANC 2017

Winery notes (2017 Vintage)
"Aromas of red plums, cassis and boysenberry with a hint of kirsch and vanilla. Entry combines sweet and savoury elements. Red cherries, plum and underlying cedar flavours carry through the palate and linger attractively. Medium weighted and elegant."

Rated Excellent & 94/100 Cameron Douglas MS, March 2022 (2017 Vintage)
"Made with cabernets sauvignon and franc with merlot showcasing aromas of fresh black fruits and tobacco, cigar box, graphite and plum. Other aromas include dried roses and iodine, black olive and baking spice. Fabulous on the palate reflecting both varieties and place with flavours of dark berries and floral non-fruit attributes as well as a stony rocky mineral quality. Firm tannins and acidity suggest more integration time required or decanting if early drinking required. A lengthy dry finish. Best drinking from 2025 through 2035."

Reviews for the 2016 vintage below…

94/100 Rebecca Gibbs, Decanter (2016 Vintage)
"An impressive, elegant, mid-weight Cabernet-led blend that could easily be confused for a decent Bordeaux. Expect some attractive and integrated pyrazine-derived herbal aromas in the layered, youthful, dense black fruit. The tannins are abundant yet resolved, providing a snug jacket that grips the body. It displays a smart use of oak, with cedar and Christmas spices providing fragrance on the long finish. Very well done.​​​​​"

5 Stars & 18.5+/20 (94) Raymond Chan, November 2018 (2016 Vintage)
"Dark, deep, black-red colour with ruby-purple hues, a little lighter on the rim. The nose is firmly concentrated with powerful, bold and up-front aromas of ripe blackcurrants and cassis with a little blackcurrant leaf, unfolding dark plum notes and pencilly oak. This has excellent Cabernet Sauvignon expression, with clarity, but also density. Medium-bodied, the palate has sweetly rich and plush fruit flavours of ripe blackcurrants and blackberries with softly sweet plum notes, unfolding some dark herbs and a little iron-earth. The tannins are very fine-grained and powdery, and the acidity is softly integrated. The wine carries smoothly to a sweet, lingering and integrated finish of fruit, herbs and earth. This is a sweetly rich and plush, up-front Cabernet Sauvignon blend with ripe blackcurrant, plum and herb notes on a fine-textured, smooth and integrated palate. This will develop over the next 7-10 years. A blend of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot and 6% Cabernet Franc, fermented to 13.0% alc., the wine aged 13-14 months in 40% new oak barriques."

5 Stars Michael Cooper (2016 Vintage)
"Grown in the Irongate Vineyard and aged in French oak barriques (40 per cent new in 2016), this elegant, complex, firmly structured red is designed for cellaring. Retasted in April 2019, the 2016 vintage has promisingly deep, youthful colour. Fragrant and mouthfilling, it is well-structured, with deep blackcurrant, plum and spice flavours, oak complexity, good tannin backbone and excellent cellaring potential; open 2022+."

93/100 Huon Hooke (2016 Vintage)
“Deep red colour with the merest tinge of purple, while the bouquet is strongly crushed-leafy, tobaccoey and just a little green, There are vanillan oak inputs as well. The wine is lean and nervy, with some grittiness and slight bitterness in the tannins. Its ripeness is just slightly on the cusp. Some tomato-bush touches. A very good wine all the same – it has richness, flesh and fruit-sweetness."