The third-generation family business celebrated its centennial in 2016, based on the first bottlings of 20-year-old Josip Babich in 1916.
The founder’s sons, Joe and Peter, joined the business in the late 1950s and in subsequent decades expended the business, which is now managed by David Babich.
From its origins in the Far North gumfields and the move to West Auckland in 1919, Babich Wines has maintained a solid reputation and success as an exporter.
About 88% of its production goes overseas, as the company decided in in the 1980s that its future did not lie in the domestic market.
However, it lifted its local profile with the release of a 2013 magnum of Cabernet Sauvignon under The Patriarch label. It sold for $999, the then top price for any New Zealand wine.
The original winery site at Henderson now has just 10ha of grapes, as the company sources most of its grapes from vineyards in Hawke’s Bay (60ha) and Marlborough (250ha).