Tiny Bites - a Vancouver food blog

Wolfgang Blass: the other man who turned me on… to wine

5 Comments Karen HamiltonMay 20, 2009

That’s not me in the yellow. I would have loved to be in a photo with Mr. Blass but he was a crowd mingler and I was just too darn shy to push for what is the equivalent of an autograph.

Do you remember when you first fell for wine? I do. And the reason it sticks out is because I had hated the stuff for such a long time.

Let’s turn back the clock to 1998, when I first started exploring the world of alcohol. My budget was that of a starving student. Familiarity with fine dining was nil. My preferred poison was gin and tonic; it was a safe bet, considering the beer drunk by my circle of friends tasted like what I imagine pee would. My family, not having much to do with alcohol, only brought out wine on special occasions, perhaps not realizing that Baby Duck or magnums of red on sale for $10 didn’t exactly add much refinement. Those first few sips of wine were dreadful. I may as well have ingested vinegar; turpentine, even. It was enough to prevent my lips from touching wine again until I met my husband.

My husband, who has been my husband for precisely three years today, was responsible for my changes of heart on a variety of imbibables. He showed me how to pull off a proper tequila shot. He introduced me to the beauty that is wheat beer; he now gets a kick out of watching me down a big Hoe. But most importantly, he made me give wine another shot, and his weapon of choice was Wolf Blass’ Yellow Label Cabernet Sauvignon.

When we first met, the Yellow Label Cab Sauv was a reasonable $13 and was easy to spot in our neighbourhood BCLC. Unlike other big reds that my husband tried to get me to appreciate, this bottle was softer, rounder, accessible – a good beginner’s red. It was the first red in memory that I could consistently drink, especially with all the steaks that my husband would grill in our little starter apartment in the suburbs.

With me being too fearful of ruining a good thing, this red was our de facto wine pick for years until a significant price hike negated the price / quality ratio for us. To be honest, if the price hadn’t changed on us, we may have never started testing our palates with new wines, so I suppose we have Wolf Blass to thank for that, too.

These days, Kurt and I don’t really look towards Australia for our wine. We’ve been too busy with France, California, and BC, whose wine regions we’ve personally traversed, plus more unusual varietals through our good friends at Farmstead Wines. However, we haven’t forgotten our beginnings with Wolf Blass, so when I was invited to meet the Mr. Wolfgang Blass in person and wish him a happy 75th birthday…well, how could I say no?

So there I was with my camera and glass of Platinum Label Shiraz, wandering about the private birthday party set up at the Fairmont Vancouver by Virgin Radio and Foster’s Group. Buzz Bishop, who I had also met in person for the first time that day, made the appropriate introductions to get me a bit of face time with Mr. Blass before he took the mic.

“Oh my,” exclaimed Wolfgang Blass, “you’re the best looking photographer I’ve ever seen!”

I’m certain my face was aflame from that generous remark. A spunky, gregarious man, Mr. Blass’ welcome made my apprehensions at meeting a world-famous wine personality disappear. He agreed to pose for my camera before he and Foster’s Global Wine Ambassador George Samios took the stage to talk about Mr. Blass’ career and relationship with Canada.

I won’t bore you with the details of the talk except to note how little boredom it incited. It was a thrill to listen to this man, whose wine I had so heartily enjoyed in my youth, bubble about the past and the future of Wolf Blass with his German-accented Australian accent. He took George’s frequent use of the nickname “Wolfy” with aplomb and regaled us with stories of how the colour-coded labels came to be, and why he thought his wine was sexy. If I hadn’t been specifically invited to his 75th birthday party, I would not have believed that a man of his years could still contain that much spirit.

Post-speech, the crowd was led by Buzz, with George urging him to sing right into the mic, in a serenade of “Happy Birthday” before we all returned to the Wolf Blass wine tasting that had been going on all evening. My faves: the Grey Label Shiraz and the Gold Label Riesling (which sang to me in mango with every sip). Didn’t get to try the Black Label – too busy following around the birthday boy with my camera!

So there you have it: my husband and Wolf Blass – the two men who I have to thank for my re-introduction to wine.

Categories: Events, Food, Wine

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