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.
Varietal | Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz |
---|---|
Vintage | 2018 |
Country | Australia |
Volume | 750 mL |
Closure | Screw Cap |
Alc/Vol | 14.5% |
97 Points | Ray Jordan |
97 Points | Andrew Caillard MW |
96 Points | James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion 2023 |
95 Points | Jeni Port |
94+ Points | Mike Bennie |
Silver | 2022 Perth Wine Show |
Bronze | 2022 Hobart Wine Show |
Bronze | 2022 Royal Melbourne Wine Awards |
Lifted nose of blackberry, blackcurrant and dark plum is layeredwith bittersweet chocolate, roastedcoffee beans and hints of tobacco.Toasted nut characters derived frombarrel fermentation and maturation. add attractive complexity.
The palate is generous and beautifully balanced, with dark berry fruit andsavoury secondary flavours of coffee and cedary oak. At once rich and elegant, with a persistence of flavour, seamless texture and long, smooth, chocolatey tannins typical of the characteristic Black Label style that overrides regional and varietal influences
Home to the oldest vines in the country, and no less than 18 wine growing regions, South Australia accounts for almost 50% of Australia’s wine production. The Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek and Coonawarra are well known for their world class reds, with Adelaide Hills, Clare Valley and Eden Valley praised for their exceptional Chardonnay and Riesling.
Vintage Conditions
The growing season began with above average rainfall that filled soil profiles, however spring and summer were dry, with temperatures slightly above average. Early lignification and flavour development allowed for picking at optimum flavour ripeness, without excessive sugar. Harvest was relatively early, with reds showing excellent varietal expression, plush palates and fine tannin structure.
Steve grew up in his family's restaurant business in the Yarra Valley where, at an early age, his interest in food and wine was cultivated.
Though it wasn't his first career, growing and making wine was always Steve's passion, with most weekends spent working part-time in vineyards and making wines with friends.
Steve started working in the wine industry full-time in 1999, the same year he started a Bachelor of Applied Science (Wine Science) at Charles Sturt University. Drawn to work in the Barossa in 2005, he's been making Wolf Blass reds since 2008. The winery's expansive vineyard resources, modern and traditional winemaking techniques, and careful approach to blending proved just as irresistible then as they do now