Wolf Blass Black Label Cabernet Shiraz Malbec 2021

For some, this is the epitome of the Blass winemaking philosophy. Three grapes, three South Australian regions close to the founder’s heart – Barossa Valley, McLaren Vale, Langhorne Creek – and the winemaker’s art of blending on show. The winemaker in question is Alex Mackenzie. He does a mighty fine job with this Cabernet dominant (52%) blend, taking the best wines of the vintage – as per the Black Label philosophy – and weaving them together with sensitivity and care. The fruit covers the gamut from black to blue, there are savoury flourishes in smoked deli meats countered nicely by toasty oak and studded by pockets of spice, vanilla and chocolate. The wine carries a friendly approachability, but there is also a reserved elegance, the middle palate indicates as much with a strong, tannic forcefield in place providing both structure and stature. Love the versatility of this wine, layered, warm, savoury and delivered with class, and yet with so much still in reserve.

Jeni Port

Wine critic at Winepilot

Jeni Port is one of Australia’s top wine communicators. Based in Melbourne, Jeni created the first wine column in the (then) Sun News-Pictorial before moving over to The Age and becoming that paper’s longest-serving wine writer. Over the years she has written for most Australian wine magazines and these days calls WinePilot home. She is also a Tasting Panel member on the Halliday Wine Companion. She was named Wine Communicator of the Year and Legend of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival in 2014 and in 2018 Legend of the Vine. She is a founding board member of Australian Women In Wine and is the co-deputy chair of Australia’s Wine List of the Year Awards and China’s Wine List of the Year Awards.

Wine writer and critic