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Every September, on or around Wolf Blass’s birthday, the company presents its new “Luxury Release” wines: the Grey, Black and Platinum labels. Blass has done relatively little promotion of its fine wines in the UK in recent years so it was a rare treat to be able to taste them with Chris Hatcher, who has worked at Blass since 1987 and been Chief Winemaker since 1996.
The lack of PR in the UK in recent years was possibly due to ownership issues. Fosters had plenty of capital and could invest in winery improvements. But selling beer is different to selling wine. After years of poor performance, Foster’s Group divided its brewing and winemaking businesses. Treasury Wine Estates – the wine division – became a separately listed company in May 2011. Wolf Blass is now a publicly listed, 100% wine business, “which is the greatest thing that’s happened to us in a long time”, Chris commented.
Grey Label was first made in 1967 with fruit from the then relatively unknown and unheralded Langhorne Creek. Black Label is a selection of the best barrels of any given year and, like Grey, is not regional or varietal specific. “Regionality will be bolted onto the brand in due course”, said Chris. Production levels are relatively small. Depending on the vintage, Grey is about 10,000 cases, Black 500-2,500 and Platinum 500-1,000.
Made every year since 1973, Black Label was a Jimmy Watson winner in 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1999. Platinum is Wolf Blass’s top Barossa Shiraz, treated as royalty and aged only in French oak.
These days all the Luxury Releases are bottled under screwcaps. A 1996 wine was trialled under cork, screwcap and plastic closures. At a 10-year tasting no one could pick the wines, admitted Chris, though there was some oxidation at 12-years old under cork.
Once notorious for excrescent use of wood, Wolf Blass wines wear much less oak makeup these days. The 2009 Grey Label Shiraz Cabernet was based on Limestone Coast fruit rather than the usual McLaren Vale sources. Due to drought there was a salt problem at Langhorne Creek in 2009, which ruled out using grapes from here.
The ’09 was not cloying but for me it lacked verve and was rather heavy on its feet, as was the ’07. Tinged by garnet and already leathery-smelling, the chunky tannins persisted on the lingering finish. Alcohol at 15.5% is a bit much for me. The tasty ’05 was verging on cedary, earthy, mineral maturity.
Mostly Cabernet Sauvignon with some Shiraz and Malbec, Black Label 2007 was like a stroppy teenager, needing time to calm down. The sweet fruit became more mineral on the finish. The 2005 was half Cabernet Sauvignon and half Shiraz, the Cabernet coming from the Barossa and the rest from Langhorne Creek and McLaren Vale. Even Chris admitted that the 15% alcohol was over-exuberant. If made now it would be tamed, “ideally at 14-14.2%.”
Due to office politics the 1998 Black Label started its life in American oak but under the new regime was then transferred into French oak. The sweet finish is very moreish. No wonder that this wine was such a big hit on the show circuit in its youth, with a dozen gongs won between 1999 and 2001, including the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy at the 1999 Melbourne Wine Show.
Gilded by French oak, Platinum has more assertive tannins than Grey or Black. The 2008 was based on Barossa Valley Shiraz from the banks of the Parra river, mainly from “The Orchard” vineyard at Dorrien, with a bit of Eden Valley Shiraz for seasoning. It was “a tough year”, said Chris. It wasn’t overripe but it was certainly suntanned. The smooth, sweet fruit had some elegance, though the overall texture was rather taut. This was 15.5% too.
The much cooler 2002 vintage was a nice wine, hinting at cedar and dark minerality. The inaugural Platinum vintage was 1998. Sourced from a dry-grown Eden Valley vineyard, it was still fresh and sweet. As a juvenile it was enormous, apparently. But a decade of ageing has turned this into a very nice, very good wine. All the wines tasted here were worthy of ten years cellaring.
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