{"id":15458,"date":"2016-08-11T15:06:17","date_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/?p=15458"},"modified":"2016-08-11T15:06:17","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T15:06:17","slug":"wolf-blass-black-label-vertical-1974-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/australia\/wolf-blass-black-label-vertical-1974-2012","title":{"rendered":"Wolf Blass Black Label Vertical, 1974-2012"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chris
Chris Hatcher, Wolf Blass winemaker<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the 50th year of Wolf Blass as a wine company, and it\u2019s also the 40th vintage of the Wolf Blass Black Label. So winemaker Chris Hatcher was in town to present a vertical of this wine back to 1974.<\/p>\n

Wolf made his first wine in 1967, when he produced his Grey Label Cabernet Shiraz from the Langhorne Creek. He later purchased wine to release the 1966 Yellow Label, but the 1967 was the first wine he made. The Black Label saw its debut in 1973. There are only two bottles of this left, so we started our vertical with the 1974. 1973, 1974 and 1975 all won the celebrated Jimmy Watson tropy, the only time this hattrick has been achieved.<\/p>\n

\"OLYMPUS<\/p>\n

\u2018If you go back through the show records,\u2019 says Hatcher, \u2018you\u2019ll say it\u2019s the most awarded red wine in Australia. The 1994 is the only vintage not to win a gold medal, and it averages 7 gold medals a vintage.<\/p>\n

This is a blended wine. It\u2019s based around Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz, with a bit of Malbec, these days (since 2002). The proportion varies each year. Volumes also vary. \u2018We can blend for consistency of style,\u2019 says Hatcher. \u2018There\u2019s no recipe here. The terroirs make the wine. Each of the terroirs brings the quality to the components in the blend.\u2019<\/p>\n

The Wolf Blass house style is for a plush mid palate with soft tannins: the feeling is that a wine should be read to drink when it is sold. The wines today have more fruit character and less oak. \u2018Back in the early 1970s Wolf used a lot of new American oak to get sweetness on the palate,\u2019 explained Hatcher. \u2018Today we get it from the fruit. There\u2019s also a much higher use of French oak.\u2019<\/p>\n

Hatcher says that the big change through the years is in the shift in emphasis from the winery to the vineyard. \u2018I came into the industry in 1974, and we didn\u2019t know anything about viticulture. The biggest change in the industry is now we have professional viticulturists. We used to think we could fix everything in the vineyard.\u2019<\/p>\n

One other change was the shift from cork to screwcap. Wolf Blass used screwcap for the first time in 2001 for the Platinum Label. In 2002 they bottled half the Black Label with screwcap and half with cork, and the screwcap wine sold out fastest. Since 2003 it\u2019s all been screwcap, with the exception of some cork used for the Chinese market, which isn\u2019t ready for screwcaps on top red wines.<\/p>\n

\"wolf<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1974 South Australia<\/strong>
\nThere were two bottles of this opened. My note is from the fresher of the two. Some sweet cherries and plums on the nose. Quite rich with some cedar spiciness. Has a mellow maturity but still plenty of fruit. There\u2019s a slight trace of mint with lovely soft tannins. Mellow and elegant. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1979 South Australia<\/strong>
\nRipe, rich and broad. Mellow with sweet cherry and plum fruit. Really expressive and harmonious. Restrained and quite pure with hints of cedar and earth, and sleek ripe fruit. Elegant and mature but still has life to it. 94\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1982 South Australia<\/strong>
\nRipe, malty and quite porty with lush sweet tarry black fruits. Some fudge and toffee notes under the fruit. Mint and cedar, too. It\u2019s slightly disjointed and fully mature and perhaps a bit tired. 88\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Merlot 1984 South Australia<\/strong>
\nAromatic black fruits nose with herbs, earth and mint. Ripe, sweet palate still has plenty of stuffing, and there\u2019s a rich, tarry, cedary core. Spicy and lively with a minty freshness. Developed and fully mature so drink now. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 1992 South Australia<\/strong>
\nSweet, ripe and a bit earthy with nice depth and richness. Soft, earthy, tarry herby notes under the fruit. A bit spicy and drying on the finish. Herbs, earth, spice and tar here. Grippy. 90\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon 1998 South Australia<\/strong>
\n89% Cabernet this vintage, the most ever. Pure, enticing, vivid blackcurrant and cedar nose. Very appealing. Dense and ripe. Structured and cedary on the palate with some tarry, gravelly notes. Has richness and lushness to the fruit. A big wine with real impact that has developed nicely. 93\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon Malbec 2002 South Australia<\/strong>
\nThe first vintage in screwcap. Minty blackcurrant fruit nose. Firm, grippy structure on the palate, under the sleek, sweet blackcurrant fruit. Quite firm and unyielding with a youthful personality and a bit of alcoholic heat. Finish is a touch bitter. Will this ever develop? 91\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Malbec 2004 South Australia<\/strong>
\nPure, intense, lush black fruit here. Very youthful with some spiciness and good structure. Ripe but has freshness and a juicy edge to the slightly salty black fruits. Still very primary. Well made. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2010 South Australia<\/strong>
\nPure, sweet floral blackcurrant and black cherry aromatics. Dense, sweet, supple palate is very ripe and polished, with a salty edge to the sweet primary black fruits. Pure with no rough edges. Satisfying stuff in a ripe, friendly style. 92\/100<\/p>\n

Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz Malbec 2012 South Australia<\/strong>
\nAromatic, floral, pure blackcurrant and blackberry fruit nose. Ripe, sweet, lush black fruits to the fore with a hint of spiciness. Lush, pure and easy with nice density. This is a real crowd pleaser. Still very primary. 91\/100<\/p>\n

Find these wines with wine-searcher.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the 50th year of Wolf Blass as a wine company, and it\u2019s also the 40th vintage of the Wolf Blass Black Label. So winemaker Chris Hatcher was in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[366],"class_list":["post-15458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","tag-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15458"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15464,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15458\/revisions\/15464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wineanorak.com:\/wineblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}