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Chasing excellence since 1966

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Black Label Cabernet Shiraz Malbec 2014

Black Label Cabernet Shiraz Malbec 2014

Black Label Cabernet Shiraz Malbec 2014

Overview

Overview

Since 1973, the chase to make the perfect wine has been fundamental to creating 42 remarkable vintages of Black Label. Built on complex, multilayered flavour and magnificent structure, Black Label is a powerful expression of the Wolf Blass philosophy of synergistic blending.

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, destemmed 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 Shiraz Malbec
Vintage 2014
Country Australia
Region Multi-Region Blend
Volume 750 mL
Closure Screw Cap
Alc/Vol 14.5%
Peak Drinking Now - 2040
Winemaker Steven Frost

Awards and Accolades

Awards and Accolades

97 points Huon Hooke
95 points Ned Goodwin
93 points Campbell Mattinson
Gold 2018 Japan Wine Challenge

Huon Hooke

"Very deep red/purple colour. The bouquet is concentrated and smoky, with a strong char-oak influence and an immensely full-bodied, firm, tannic palate. Very deep, concentrated flavour, with massive structure and a wall of tannins - but they're ripe, high-quality tannins. And there's a deep core of sweet ripe fruit. A very long-term wine, and very high quality. Long ageing indicated."

Ned Goodwin

"An expose of carnal, warm climate, hedonic and explosive fruit on one hand and a pillow of creamy texture, built upon the foundation of superlative winemaking cum authoritative tannin management, on the other. Like most very good wine, this is as delicious now as it will be in 30 years time. Only the shades of dark to light will change."

Campbell Mattinson

"Wolf Blass Black Label. 57% Barossa Valley, 28% McLaren Vale, 15% Langhorne Creek. 51% Cabernet Sauvignon, 44% Shiraz, 5% Malbec. Twenty months in 61% new oak, almost all of it French. From the press release: “Since 1973, the chase to make the perfect wine has been fundamental to creating 42 remarkable vintages of Black Label.” I do like that it includes malbec.

Plenty of swagger. Plenty of fruit. Dark and weighty without being overburdened. Blackcurrant, redcurrant, plum and coffee-cream. Switches of earth and toast. Ripples of tannin but really nothing more than that; its drama is smudged and smooth. It’s not exactly an excitement machine but it is perfectly powered and engineered."

Food Pairing

Food Pairing

Beef
Lamb
Duck
Veg
Pizza

Taste Description

Taste Description

Nose

A lifted, fragrant nose, with blackberry, cassis and dark plum fruits reinforced with roast coffee, chocolate, fennel seed, and toasted nut complexity derived from barrel fermentation and maturation. Hints of tobacco leaf add attractive highlights.

Flavours and Palate

Ri ch, generous and complex, with dark plum and blackcurrant fruit layered with savoury secondary flavours of coffee and cedary oak. Typical of the characteristic Black Label style that overrides r egional and varietal influences, yet with the distinctive stru ctural finesse of the vintage. Showing definitive power and elegance through seamless texture, beautifully balanced, lingering fruit and smooth, long, chocolatey tannins.

Viticulture Vintage & Winemaking

Viticulture Vintage & Winemaking

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.

Good winter rains were followed by a dry spring, with strong winds during flowering reducing yields. After a warm to hot summer, timely February rain tempered conditions , and extended and evened out ripening. This allowed for optimum development of flavour , and resulted in rich, fragrant reds with great colour and structural finesse.

Steven Frost - Winemaker

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.