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Flying High
There’s a picture of an Eagle Hawk on every bottle of Wolf Blass wine. The bird
is more correctly known as a Wedge-Tailed Eagle and is the largest bird of prey
in Australia. Actually, it’s one of the largest birds of prey in the world. When
in the 1960s, Wolfgang Blass arrived in Australia from his native Germany and
set up his own winery, he named it Bilyara, the aboriginal word for an Eagle
Hawk. To this day, the image of the Eagle Hawk is synonymous with Wolf Blass
wines. Over the years the company has grown from a humble shed to one of the
most successful wineries in South Australia and has won over 3,000 awards for
its range of exceptional wines.
Wolf Blass Yellow Label Riesling 2011 (white), Australia (Bt.
779 @ Villa)
Some wine experts consider Riesling (REEZ-ling) to be one of the finest white
grapes ever. Note the pronunciation, by the way. If I catch you calling it
RIZE-ling, you’ll be poked with a pointed stick. Some writers claim that
Riesling produces the most spectacular white wines in the world. These
super-star Rieslings come from either the Alsace region of France, or the Mosel
and Rhine areas of Germany. Wine-writer James Cluer says that “Very few other
grapes show the complexity that you can find in Riesling, and the depth and
layers can be astonishing as they unfold.” Contrary to popular belief, Riesling
wines today - with a few expensive exceptions - are completely dry.
The Wolf Blass Yellow Label range includes some of the company’s premium wines.
This is a bright, light gold with hints of green. There’s a delicate and
sweetish floral aroma of ripe peaches, oranges and a note of herbs. Stainless
steel open-fermenters (rather than oak barrels) were used to preserve the
freshness of the wine. The taste is as dry as the proverbial bone, with a very
smooth mouth-feel. There’s also a fair amount of acidity too, giving the wine a
kind of refreshing quality that wine experts like to describe as “racy”.
With a long, citrusy dry finish, this would be terrific with fish and seafood
and would partner the tangy flavors of ginger and lime in Asian dishes. It could
match spicy Thai or Indian food too. If your previous encounters with Riesling
were with the sweetish mass-produced German Rieslings of the 1960s and 70s,
prepare yourself for a surprise. However, if you are reluctant to fork out Bt.
799, try the crisp, refreshing Eaglehawk Riesling at Bt. 549 instead.
Wolf Blass Yellow Label Chardonnay 2010 (white), Australia
(Bt. 779 @ Villa)
This is a light gold colour with a greenish tinge and there’s a lovely buttery
peach, melon and honey aroma that fairly zaps out of the glass. On the palate,
the peach and melon dominate and the wine has a silky-smooth mouth-feel with an
attractive balance of acid. All too often, the acid is toned down in
Chardonnays, with the result that they can sometimes taste dull and flabby but
the touch of acid in this wine really perks it up. There’s a very long peach and
citrus finish too. So if you prefer your Chardonnays with a bit of character,
give this one a try.
Wolf Blass Eaglehawk Merlot 2011 (red), Australia (Bt. 540 @
Friendship)
Merlot has become popular because it offers a softness of texture with while
ripe, plum-like flavours. However, I have tasted this wine a couple of times
during the last few weeks and it has much more interest than some of the bland
Californian Merlots that I’ve come across.
It always seems to me that Wolf Blass wines have something interesting to say
and this one, even at the entry-level Eaglehawk range is no exception. The
vibrant dark wine has a lovely aroma of cherries with flavours of plum and even
a hint of spice on the palate. There’s a touch of vanilla that probably comes
from the oak barrels in which the wine was matured. It’s a pleasant very dry
easy-drinker, and would be ideal with turkey, duck, pizza or pasta.
Incidentally, Eagle Hawks can evidently soar for hours on end at six thousand
feet and sometimes considerably higher. But why they go to the trouble of flying
at such amazingly high altitudes, no one really seems to know.
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