Wolf Blass Platinum Label Barossa Valley Shiraz 2018
- 96
- $200
- Drink by: 2021 - 2036
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The pick of the newly released Wolf Blass Luxury Collection, Platinum Label also happens to be the wine with the highest price tag. This wine simply sings the strongest of the group, has a more immediate and compelling presence with a fineness in detail.
Fruit was sourced from the Medlands Vineyard at Dorrien just a bit down the road from the Wolf Blass winery and visitors centre. The single vineyard produces a striking magenta-purple colour. Foliage, briar, earth meet the nose together with black berries.
It’s on the ripe side – 14.5% ABV – and so the usual Barossa sweet berried fruits are a notable feature. In keeping with the general move in Australian winemaking circles towards a degree of savouriness in reds, Platinum brings forth a ferrous/iron quality.
Love the overall balance on display here together with the decision to employ only French oak – 28% of it new – during its 17 months maturation. It brings effortless structure and length.
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.
