Legendary maker, blender and marketer of Australian wine, Wolf Blass, was the popular winner of the tenth Maurice O’Shea Award for his outstanding contribution to Australian wine at the signature event of Wine Australia, the Maurice O’Shea Award Dinner at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt Hotel. Today Wolf Blass is still actively involved in the promotion of Wolf Blass wines and in the operation of the Wolf Blass Foundation, which he founded to provide seed capital and funding for viticulture, winemaking and marketing initiatives in Australian wine. Best known for winning three consecutive Jimmy Watson Trophies between 1974 and 1976, he was also instrumental in the development and marketing of Australian Riesling in the 1970s, was the International Winemaker of the Year in 1992 and remains an ebullient and vociferous advocate for Australian wine. Typically, with tongue placed well inside cheek, he began his acceptance speech at the Hyatt by saying he had written it seven years before.
