Wolf Blass Master Blend Classification 2013 overall results. Guess what?

Purple haze – the view from my desk at the London leg of Wolf Blass Master Blend Classification tasting

Today Wine Australia hosts a Big Brands tasting in London. It will feature some 100 wines drawn from the top 8 Australian brands by volume in the UK market. The aim? “To ask the question who says big companies can’t make good wine?”

Wolf Blass rather jumped the gun yesterday, releasing the overall results of the Wolf Blass second Master Blend Classification. It seeks to “classify” 30 of the world’s leading Cabernet Sauvignon based blends via blind tastings in Toronto, London and Melbourne. Once again, I participated in the London classification.

Given that we focused on the 2009 vintage, it’s hardly surprising that the top spot was shared by three Bordeaux Cabernet blends. The vintage was praised to the heavens. So although Wolf Blass’ Chief Winemaker Chris Hatcher (pictured) was quoted as saying “I don’t want us to be number one because then everyone would say we have cooked it,” I suspect he has not stopped grinning since discovering his wine made top ranking too.

Below are the results, plus a list of the wines shown (and you can read more about the event here).

Overall top-ranked wines

92/100 Chateau Leoville-Las Cases 2009 (Bordeaux – Second Growth $675 AUD)

92/100 Wolf Blass Black Label 2009 (South Australia $139 AUD)

92/100 Chateau Latour 2009 (Bordeaux – First Growth $2,400 AUD)

92/100 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou 2009 (Bordeaux – Second Growth $575 AUD)

My top five?

The Bordeaux wines really impressed me for their power with grace, poise and complexity. Unlike some, I wasn’t thrown by brettanomyces – a hot topic at all three tastings apparently.

98/100 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou  

98/100 Chateau Latour

97/100 Chateau Margaux

97/100 Chateau Lafite

96/100 Chateau Lynch Bages 96

For the record, I scored the Wolf Blass 93/100.

Montreal’s overall top five

92/100 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou (Bordeaux, France)

91/100 Joseph Phelps Insignia (Napa Valley, United States)

91/100 Ornellaia (Tuscany, Italy)

91/100 Chateau Margaux  (Bordeaux, France)

91/100 Chateau Lafite Rothschild (Bordeaux, France)

London’s overall top five

94/100 Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou (Bordeaux, France)

93/100 Wolf Blass Black Label (South Australia, Australia)

93/100 Chateau Latour (Bordeaux, France)

93/100 Ridge Monte Bello (Napa Valley, United States)

93/100 Chateau Mouton Rothschild (Bordeaux, France)

Melbourne’s overall top five

94/100 Wolf Blass Black Label 2009 (South Australia, Australia)

93/100 Chateau Beychevelle 2009 (Bordeaux, France)

93/100 Chateau Lynch-Bages 2009 (Bordeaux, France)

92/100 Chateau Montrose (Bordeaux, France)

92/100 Chateau Latour (Bordeaux, France)

 The complete line up (in no particular order)

1. Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou
2. Wolf Blass Black Label
3. Chateau Latour
4. Ridge Monte Bello
5. Chateau Mouton Rothschild
6. Chateau Leoville-Las Cases
7. Chateau Montrose
8. Joseph Phelps Insignia
9. Chateau Leoville Barton
10. Chateau Margaux
11. Antinori Solaia
12. Chateau Lafite Rothschild
13. Harlan Proprietary Red
14. Chateau Cos d’Estournel
15. Chateau Lynch-Bages
16. Chateau Haut Brion
17. Ornellaia
18. Chateau Pichon Longueville – Comtesse De Lalande
19. Chateau Beychevelle
20. Henschke Cyril Henschke
21. Vina Almaviva
22. Vasse Felix Heytesbury
23. Dominius Estate (Christiin Moueix)
24. Opus One
25. Cullen Diana Madeline
26. Eduardo Chadwick Sena
27. Kanonkop Paul Sauer
28. Wendouree
29. Sassicaia
30. Mount Mary Quintet