Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Shiraz 2018

Wolfgang Franz Otto Blass was born in Germany in 1934. After Wolf ran away from school, his parents gave him an ultimatum: start a 3-year winemaking apprenticeship or get back to class. And so began a journey which changed the winemaking world. After studying Champagne techniques in France in 1957, Wolf became the youngest person ever to graduate with a Masters in Oenology (Wine Science) from Veitschoechheim-Wuerzberg. In 1959, he moved to England to study the art of blending before moving to the Barossa Valley in 1961, deciding against a move to Venezuela. In 1966, he established Wolf Blass Wines.

The philosophy behind Black Label is simple: to take the year’s very best wines and weave them together into a synergistic whole, the resultant wine being greater than the sum of its parts. It’s about creating a wine with many layers of flavour in a complex composition of intense fruit characters, magnificent structure, a rich lustrous texture, long velvety tannins and a lingering palate.

Harvested at optimum maturity and flavour, fruit from each vineyard was crushed, de-stemmed and fermented separately for seven to twelve days on skins. The ferments were allowed to warm naturally, with plunging and gentle pumping over used to maximise colour and flavour extraction. Mid-ferment cooling extended fermentation, exploiting time on skins and accentuating line and length. Some batches stayed on skins to dryness, while others completed fermentation in barrel, allowing a balanced integration of oak characters and enhancing texture and complexity.

The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz
Country - Australia
Region - Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, & Langhorne Creek, South Australia
Vintage - 2018
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 14.5%