Wolf Blass Platinum Label 2001 Shiraz has been named Wine of the Year in Jeremy Oliver's book The Australian Wine Annual 2005. Awarded 97 points, Jeremy Oliver states, “the Platinum Label Shiraz has managed to deliver exceptional quality and consistency of style through some of the most challenging and diverse vintages in South Australian history through a combination of judicious vineyard sourcing, some very talented winemaking and a very clear focus on style.”

Platinum Label is the ultimate expression of the Wolf Blass winemaking and viticulture team's ability to produce the greatest, most intense Shiraz fruit possible. At the pinnacle of Wolf Blass winemaking, it epitomises vintage, vineyard and variety.

The 2001 Wolf Blass Platinum Label Shiraz was awarded the prestigious Montgomery Trophy for the Best Limited Release Dry Red Wine in Show (Class 66) at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show.
The 2001 Platinum Label Shiraz also won The Wine Press Club Trophy for Best Dry Red Wine in Show (Class 66) and The Amorim Cork Australia Trophy for Best Shiraz in Show (Class 66) at the 2003 Royal Adelaide Wine Show. An Australian first for a super premium red wine, the Wolf Blass Platinum Label 2001 Shiraz is bottled entirely under screwcap.

Look out for the highly anticipated release of the 2002 Wolf Blass Platinum Shiraz in March 2005.

Why Screw Cap?
Why put the Wolf Blass Platinum Label and other Wolf Blass wines under screwcap?
A screwcap closure offers the trade and consumers certainty that the wines are exactly how the winemaker intended them to be.

What is the difference between Stelvin and screwcap?
Stelvin is a brand name of the most popular screwcap and has become the generic term within the wine industry for all brands of screwcap.

What is a screwcap?
The external part of the cap is made of non-corroding metal, usually an alloy of aluminium. The screwcap liner is made up of expanded polyethylene, tin (to stop oxygen) and PVDC to provide an inert seal with the wine. The closure is corrosion-resistant.

How is it opened?
To remove the cap, small metal bridges must be broken to separate the top part of the cap and the lower skirt, which remains on the bottle. The bottle can be re-sealed by screwing the cap back on to the bottle. The broken seal indicates that the bottle has been opened, thus providing a tamper proof feature.

How long have screwcaps been around?
The screwcap closure has been around in the Australian wine industry since the mid 1970s.

What are the advantages of screwcap?
A screwcap provides a perfect, inert seal that means every bottle of wine tastes exactly as the winemaker intended. Using this closure removes all possibility of a wine being affected by any cork-related faults that make wine smell and taste ‘off’.

What is a ‘corked’ wine?
A 'corked' wine is a result of using a cork that has been affected by the action of mould combined with traces of chloride compounds from the environment. Cork taint manifests itself as a smell of a musty cellar, wet carpet or a wet towel, generally not a pleasant aroma.
Experts suggest the incidence of cork taint or other cork-related faults such as random oxidation is around 5-10% of all bottled wine.

Is there any difference in the development of the wine under cork and screwcap?
The Wolf Blass winemaking team undertakes regular blind tastings to assess how the same wine ages under cork versus screwcap. While the difference is generally not great when the wine is extremely young, as the wine ages the screwcap wine is fresher and more vibrant and will age more consistently.

Is cork essential for wine to age in a bottle?
No. A wine under screwcap will age more steadily and predictably than it would if under a cork. It will not remain in some sort of time capsule as some people have suggested and not age at all. With the removal of any possibility of cork taint from red wines under screwcap comes the added advantage of ageing the wine with the knowledge that it will taste as the winemaker intended it to with age. With screwcap the consumer can also cellar the wines in any way they like, the bottle no-longer has to be laid down to provide contact between the cork and the wine.

The new multi-million dollar Wolf Blass Visitor Centre is now open in South Australia. An exciting development for the winery, the Visitor Centre was officially opened on the 12th October 2004, and will provide a real international home for the brand.

CLICK HERE for more info.