2018 Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Shiraz

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.

Palate - The palate is generous and beautifully balanced, with dark berry fruit and
savoury 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.

Nose - A lifted nose of blackberry, blackcurrant and dark plum is layered with bittersweet chocolate, roasted coffee beans and hints of tobacco. Toasted nut characters derived from barrel fermentation and maturation. add attractive complexity

Maturation - 18 months’ maturation in 72% seasoned and 20% new French oak, and 8% American oak has enhanced structure and complexity