Recently released is an unusually formatted point-by-point view of Wolf Blass’ involvement in Australian wine. Typically, it’s straight to the point, pithy and utterly economical in its use of language. Full of remarkable facts, even given the legendary frankness of the man, you can discover that when Wolf started his business in 1973 it was with an overdraft of $2000, when he went public in 1984 his business was capitalised for $15.2 million (Wolf retaining 60%), and when he merged it with Mildara the joint business was worth $125 million. When CUB Fosters bought Mildara Blass, they paid $482 million, by which time an original 50 cent share in Wolf Blass was worth $7.75 just twelve years later. Not bad going for an industry constantly complaining for many of those years how hard it was to make a buck. The photographic highlight of the book is pictured here – as our bespectacled academic hero is awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Applied Science by Charles Sturt University in 1996. It’s worth owning a copy of this booklet, simply because it’s so informative and so different. The first fifty readers to e-mail George Samios at Mildara Blass on [email protected] will be sent one with Beringer Blass’ compliments.
