Photos By:: Adil Arora
 An article last month in an Australian newspaper made me sit up and take note- ‘Pearls Group which has invested about $105m in the Sheraton Mirage on the Gold Coast, is also importing Australian goods into India, including VB beer, and is about to launch Wolf Blass wine into the country.’
It took me little time to realise that the news related to the Delhi based builder and developer Pearls Group which had started wine imports four years earlier. After experimenting with another Australian brand and a few food products, the company is now bringing Foster’s-owned Wolf Blass, one of the popular Australian international brands.
The three wines were launched on October 7th at a dinner attended by the High Commissioner Peter Varghese. He briefed the 150- plus guests invited in their business attire, at a sit-down dinner about the immigration exodus during the last century to Australia which included oenologist Wolfgang Blass from Germany. He launched Wolf Blass wines in 1966, which went on to win over 3000 awards including Australia’s coveted Jimmy Walton Trophy four times. He also highlighted the multi-cultural society (he is also an India-born immigrant) and the export savvy Australian producers who export wines worth over $3 billion a year.
 Foster’s has been in the news of late, as it has been undergoing restructure and a spin off for the wine division is on the cards. Known in India more for the Foster’s beer brand which was later bought by SAB Miller, the Treasury Wine Estates arm of Foster’s owns brands, besides Wolf Blass, like the Penfolds, Rosemount and Lindemans which are already being imported into India.
The Pearls group was founded by Delhi business man Nirmal Singh. It is primarily a real estate group but has expanded into education, hospitals and imports of Australian beer, wine and food products.
The evening was hosted by the Business Club Australia which has been showcasing different Australian sectors during the Commonwealth Games. The evening at the High Commission included the three wines with snacks and a 3-course meal prepared by Hyatt. It is not comprehensible why the usually casual Aussies would ask the guests to come on a warm evening in business attire, though. Perhaps, they meant to stress that wine tasting is a serious business. It might be business for a few of the guests but one wonders if one needed to be in business suits on a warm evening to enjoy the wines meant for casual drinking.
Wolfgang Blass is known for making catchy statements, one of the more relevant being ‘No table wine over 15% should ever get any medal, anywhere in the world ever.’ Aussies are known to tilt towards high alcohol wines over the years. Therefore it was pleasant to find that Wolf Blass bubbly Eaglehawk Cuvee Brut NV had a low alcoholic content of only 10.5%. Quite citric and zesty on the nose, this medium bodied bubbly was quite crisp, zingy and fresh on the palate with fruity flavour and reasonable finish.
Wolf Blass wines are known for several ‘Labels’- Yellow and Red Labels are daily drinking wines whereas the Gold, Grey, Brown and Black Label represent luxury labels with Platinum being the super premium Label.
Eaglehawk is a value-for-money label. But the two still wines for the evening were not so well-known White Label; Wolf Blass White Label Unwooded Chardonnay 2009 from South Eastern Australia- a clean, fruity and quaffable wine with fresh acidity. The 2009 would make an interesting retail wine if priced right- it was fruity, medium bodied easy drinking wine with relatively soft tannins.
For the wine lovers in India, who like young and fruity Australian wines, Wolf Blass may be a pleasant, affordable choice.
Subhash Arora
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