The Patriarch is our flagship red wine, grown on our Gimblett Gravels ‘Irongate’ vineyard in Hawke’s Bay and made in honour of the company founder and New Zealand wine industry pioneer, Josip Babich. With this wine we allow ourselves complete flexibility in order to make the best we can – we are not committed to a particular variety or blend, crop levels are very restricted and it is only produced when we feel we have attained exceptional quality.

Winemaker Notes

Grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon 64%,  Merlot 23%,  Malbec 13%

Region: Hawke’s Bay – Gimblett Gravels

Recommended Food:

Ideal with roasted red meats. It makes a good partner for a whole fillet beef, roasted rare. Also perfect with a tasty winter casseroled stew.

Recommended Cellaring:

4-15 years

Production Notes:

Select crop thinned parcels of fruit were hand harvested then fermented in small open vats and hand plunged. After an extended maceration period the new wines were drained to French oak barriques (40% new), to mature.  After several rack and returns and extensive tasting trials the Patriarch was blended after 7 months then returned to oak. The Wine spent a total of 13 months in oak.

Technical Notes:

Alcohol: 13.0%

TA: 5.9g/l

pH: 3.71

Residual Sugar: 0g/l

Tasting Notes:

The bouquet has sumptuous dark fruits, notably blueberry, cashew, tar, leather, dark and spicy notes. The palate displays dark plum, blackberries, spicy fruit, new leather; tannins have a velvet quality but still the youthful exuberance to age gracefully in the bottle. An elegant, powerful and seamless wine from start to finish.