Wolf Blass Sapphire Label St John's Shiraz 2016

Stuart McCloskey “The bouquet comes across more savoury compared to the Dorrien. Fresh mint, eucalyptus, seaweed, clove, cinnamon, anise, black liquorice, pot pourri and blueberry. Saddle leather arises signalling the starting of the ageing process. Everything is seasoned with a healthy dash of sea salt. Glorious… The sweet entry flows to a yielding mid-palate – fleshy but showing more structure and tension than the Dorrien. Freshness is heightened and works a charm with the ripe, generous fruit. There’s shape and form, but this wine flows to the tune of plushness - the slippery movement brings a whopping smile to my face. Full marks for the deliverance of absolute pleasure. Drink now to 2030+. Served using Zalto Bordeaux glassware.”

Wolf Blass launched the first collection of Sapphire labelled sub-regional Barossa Shiraz wines from the excellent 2012 vintage. These sub-regional Shiraz each represents a critical marker along their traditional source route.  It lay in a straight line through the centre of the valley from Lyndoch in the south, right through the heart at Dorrien and north to St John’s, then following a sweeping eastern arc over the far side of the winery to Moculta in the northern reaches of Eden Valley.

The winemaking for all three Shiraz follows the same path in order best to tease out the sub-regional differences.  Harvested at optimum maturity, fruit from individual blocks is crushed separately and fermented in small open-top fermenters. A mix of plunging and gentle pumping over is used to optimise flavour, colour and tannin extraction. The wines are left on skins until dry to lengthen tannins and enhance palate line and finish. Each is matured in 60-75% seasoned and 25%-40% new French oak barrels for 18 months.   In Australia, the wines retail for around €90 each.

Sourced from three remarkable vineyards at the eastern end of Ebenezer Road in the Barossa Valley’s north, which features a flat to gently undulating terrain with an elevation of around 280m. Vineyards are planted in unique soils comprising Barossa Ironstone, with its exceptional water-holding properties, red clays and dry alluvial sands deposited up to 50 million years ago.

At the far north of the valley, the climate is more continental, with the warmest daytime temperatures and lowest rainfall and humidity. The area also experiences some of the coolest nights, leading to longer, slower, later ripening, allowing flavours to fully develop. As a result of this unique terroir, Shiraz in the area tends towards small berries with tough, dark skins producing concentration and depth, with opulent, fleshy fruit and full, ripe tannins.