What You Never Knew About Wolf Blass

What You Never Knew About Wolf Blass

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Is it the funny name?

You don’t know the half of it: Wolfgang Franz Otto Blass can thank his Thuringian parents for the distinctively Germanic name – and a few other things besides. When teenage Wolfy decided to chuck in his lot at school, his horrified parents insisted on an apprenticeship at a nearby vineyard. In just three years, Wolf attained his certificate of viticulture, and went on to become the youngest person ever to receive the German Kellermeister Diploma.  Smart. Determined.

Is it the bow ties? 

Wolf arrived in Australia in 1961 to manage sparkling production for Kaiser Stuhl. (anyone still miss Sparkling Rinegolde?) A few years later, with his own wine consultancy business, Wolf would travel thousands of miles in his VW beetle to wineries and growers across the country. It was the sixties, remember, and it was business, so he wore a tie. But after one too many took a dive into a vat of fermenting red juice, Wolf took to wearing bow ties. Adaptable. Sartorial.

Is it the colour-coded wine labels? 

The famous Wolf Blass colour-coding started in the early days of the brand, when Wolf chose yellow labels to help distinguish his wines from the (mostly white-labelled) imports. “Australians were beer drinkers and had no idea about varietals or wine regions…. and yellow is easy to spot.” It also happened to be one of the colours of the original footy team he supported: Hawthorn.
Yellow label is still going strong, and has since been joined by red, white, silver, gold, grey, brown, black and platinum ranges. Simple. Ingenuous. 

Is it the Eaglehawk?

He’d arrived in Australia with a return ticket in his pocket (which he claims still to have!) but by 1966, Wolf was ready to put down roots. He bought a few hectares of dirt - with a tin shed on it - at Bilyara Road in the Barossa Valley. Bilyara, he later learned, is an aboriginal word meaning Eaglehawk – and the eagle, of course, is the national symbol of his homeland. From that happy coincidence, a logo was born that has graced more than a million bottles.  Congruent. Harmonious.

Is it the WINES?

By the 1970s, Wolf was really hitting his straps. His first Wolf Blass Black Label (the 1973) took out the revered Jimmy Watson Trophy in 1974. Wolf went on the snare the Jimmy again in ’75, and – unbelievably – for a third year running in 1976. In 1999, he caught the lightning in a bottle with an unparalleled fourth Jimmy Watson Trophy.    
Today, Wolf Blass Wines run the gamut of varieties and styles, from fresh and floral Moscatos to brooding and intense powerhouse reds – and the awards tally numbers over 10,000. Impressive. Accomplished. 

Is it the Chase?

An annual pilgrimage to the Grand Final in Melbourne once turned into a wine-buying trip when Wolfgang picked up a couple of hogsheads of Malbec along the way. As you do. He later blended his Great Western Malbec with a parcel of Shiraz from Langhorne Creek, creating his very first wine. The year was 1966. (St Kilda - by a single point.) 

More than fifty years later, Wolf Blass Wines has a proud history of sponsorship across a range of sporting codes and cultural pursuits - from AFL and AFLW to NRL and the round ball game. But it’s not about winning or being the best, simply for the sake of being great. For Wolf Blass Wines – as for Wolfgang himself – it’s all about the chase… the journey. 

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