Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/1787
august 2009 / the tasting panel / 77 "Coming from the Old World countries, where wine was part of everyday living, I was shocked to find just the opposite in Australia," he recalls. "If you enjoyed wine, you were called a 'Blonky,' which was a very nasty word. Besides, the wines were bloody awful! I knew I could add something to the Australian wine industry." In 1966 he produced his first vintage, 3,000 bottles of Shiraz Malbec from a tiny Barossa Valley winery he named Bilyara—the Aborigine word for "eaglehawk." (An eagle is still the Wolf Blass logo.) He soon became a familiar figure in South Australia, driving around in his beat- up Volkswagen as technical consultant and helping wineries win awards. By 1973 his own winery had "expanded," into a surplus tin army shed on two and a half acres. At the prestigious Melbourne Wine Show, his wines dominated by win- ning Australia's coveted Jimmy Watson Trophy for the next three years. The resul- tant publicity produced one of Wolf's many famous quotes: "My wines make weak men strong and strong women weak." The ensuing years have brought nu- merous accolades for Wolf Blass and his wines, including more than 2,575 awards encompassing over 135 trophies and 712 Gold Medals, plus an unprecedented fourth Jimmy Watson Trophy. He also created the International Riesling Challenge in Canber- ra, and recently opened the Barossa Valley Wine Heritage Museum. Today, the Wolf Blass Group of Companies is part of Foster's Wine Estates and just completed a $250 million state-of-the art renovation, including on-site crushing facili- ties. So far in 2009, Wolf Blass has shipped 65 million bottles to 70 countries, and is the number-one brand in Australia, Canada, Ire- land, the U.K., Singapore and Hong Kong. Ironically, his smallest market is the United States, the country that holds the greatest potential. Wolf Blass turns 75 next month, and to celebrate, he is attending worldwide parties. In addition, his biography, Wolf Blass: Behind the Bowtie, will be published. Consider- ing his highly competitive nature, it is not surprising that one of Wolf's pas- sions—besides winemaking—is horse racing, a sport that inspired his label colors. His horses have chalked up an impressive 380 wins. "It's a great marketing tool," Wolf laughs, "because each time my horse wins, they announce, 'Another Wolf Blass horse just passed the post!' But it is also character-building, because you learn how to lose gracefully." Losing sounds out of character for a man who, like his wines, ages gracefully and has proven he is clearly a winner. Wolf's two favorite wines are his Platinum Label Shi- raz and Gold Label Chardonnay. Part of the recently completed $5.5 million Wolf Blass International Visitor's Center. PHO TO: RICHARD CARLETON HACKER PHO TO: RICHARD CARLETON HACKER