Babich Irongate Chardonnay

First produced in 1985 Babich Irongate Chardonnay is now up there with the classic Chardonnays of New Zealand. Or to be precise, Michael Cooper’s listed of “Classics” in his annual Wine Buyer’s Guide, essentially like the annual NZ wine bible.

To make Cooper’s classic’s list you’ve got to be good. And consistently good. As Cooper asks himself – “What is a New Zealand wine classic?”…and then goes on to tell us…“It is a wine that in quality terms consistently ranks in the very forefront of its class. To qualify for selection, each label must have achieved an outstanding level of quality for at least three vintages; there are no flashes in the pan here.”

If you rock up to their Irongate Vineyard there in Hawke’s Bay’s Gimblett Gravels, don’t be disappointed if there ain’t a big iron gate to welcome you. In fact, you’d need to dig 25 metres under ground to find how this wine gets its name. Irongate is actually an aquifer found below the stoney soils on the vineyard.

It’s all hand picked fruit, aged 9 months in oak, it’s all powerful and rich, ripe citrus fruit flavours with spicy oak flavours. Released as a good drink young Chardonnay but really this one should start to hit its best form 2023+.