THE PEOPLE
Joe Babich
Joe Babich
A giant of New Zealand’s wine industry SOPHIE PREECE Joe Babich was on track to become pharmacist, when he defied his mother’s wishes and joined New Zealand’s nascent wine industry instead. “At 18 he was lined up to do an apprenticeship with a pharmacist in Henderson,” says Babich Chief Executive David Babich of his uncle, who died in January after a two year battle with cancer. “He was quite close to embarking on that when he said ‘no I am not going to do that; I am going to join my father and brother in the family business’.” It was a fork in the road, adds David. “Become a pharmacist or become a wine guy.” Sixty years on, Joe’s decision to become a wine guy gave New Zealand not
only a “supremely skilled winemaker in one of our most highly respected pioneer wine families”, says former wine journalist Terry Dunleavy. “But one whose constant quest for quality and unique flavours took him into the formal judging of wine.” Joe was a real gentleman, a “fabulous guy with a quiet restrained dignity about him”, says New Zealand Winegrowers Chief Executive Philip Gregan. “But that didn’t stop him being very progressive.” Joe’s brother Peter – nine years his elder – had left school to work in the vines in 1947, aged 16, joining his father Josip Babich, who came to New Zealand from Croatia at 14, and launched Babich Brothers in
Henderson in 1916. When Joe entered the business in 1958 they were growing 15 hectares of grapes on Babich Rd and doing all the work themselves. “That was all we had for the year, on a vineyard you could throw a hoop over,” says David. “I think really Joe just wanted to join his older brother, and make the most of this pretty humble situation.” But Joe’s strength in science, and relentless study of the chemical relationships inherent in winemaking, made him an asset to the company, which had relied largely on Croatian traditions and instinct. “My grandfather would have known how to make wine aged 10,” says
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I NEW ZEALAND WINEGROWER I FEBRUARY/MARCH 2022