Wolf Blass had made his home in the Barossa Valley. He eventually went looking for premises to start his own winery. One of the buildings available at the time was in Bilyara Road Tanunda. Being the person he is he contacted the University of Adelaide to find out the aboriginal meaning of the word 'Bilyara'. The answer came back 'Eaglehawk'. Back home in Germany an eagle was the national emblem so that was enough to start 'Bilyara Vineyards'. It appealed to Wolf Blass when he was casting around for a name to put on his own label because it is a pleasant word in itself, but also because it is one with both German and Australian connotations that epitomised the freedom of a truly independent operation and the daring needed to make it succeed.

In 1973 Wolf also introduced an Eaglehawk label to the range of products as part of a selected individual bottling. When work first began on the property outside Nuriootpa on the road to the Riverland, there was little immediate evidence, except to those who knew the man, that this was the commencement of a project which would attract controversy like iron filings to a magnet, bring about a major reappraisal of assumptions about wine in Australia and give Blass a permanent place in its history.

Although he had never made a drop of red wine before his arrival in Australia, Wolf Blass had had experience of blending it. Averys of Bristol were insistent on the merits of the traditional practice of keeping individual estate wines separate in the original containers until final blending and one of his jobs with them was the blending of finished Bordeaux and Burgundy wines into the style for which the house was noted.

That knowledge, and experience of Australian conditions gained with Kaiser Stuhl, Tolley Scott & Tolley and as a consultant with such companies as Woodleys, Normans, Basedow and Bleasdale, convinced Blass that this technique could be adapted here. Moreover, combined with judicious maturation in new imported oak, it could produce a new taste that would revolutionise Australian preferences.

First, though, he had to have premises. Other commitments meant that until 1973 activity was largely confined to weekends and holidays with Blass being assisted by colleagues from T.S.T. The structure slowly went up, the equipment was obtained and installed and the decision was made to enhance the frontage in Spanish style. Wolf Blass felt the same affinity with the Iberian landscape that had inspired Colonel Light to give the region its name. The resulting buildings also added value to the new enterprise in that it was an imposing landmark by the side of a main road used by people seeking out new experiences and different tastes at a cellar door.

It was also decided to concentrate on table dry reds within that category that were at the premium end of the market. Blass wines would be available only in well dressed bottles and not in flagons or other bulk containers. That judgment was soon to be vindicated in a way that would startle the industry and consumers into taking notice of the arrival of a young man with forceful ideas that worked.

Wolf Blass had moved into the newly completed building in 1973. But he was a man in a hurry and the following year saw the first of a series of expansions with the establishment of a special laboratory to concentrate on quality control and the assessment and testing of wines from different areas. A large fully-insulated cask warehouse was added to the complex for the maturation of red wine in small wood.

The highlight of 1974 was the winning of the Jimmy Watson award for Australia's best one-year-old dry red at the Championship Wine Show in Melbourne. Blass was no stranger to receiving trophies, but this one carries a special cachet and its award came at a time in his career that was, to put it mildly, helpful.

That recognition was followed by a large investment in importing the best available French Nevers and American oak. The same year also saw Blass gain an award at the National Star Pack competition for the best label design in Australia.

In 1975 Wolf Blass appointed John Glaetzer as wine-maker to his organisation, a move that marked the inception of a lasting partnership of enormous significance. In the same year Blass became technical director of the first independent Australian bottling company at Lonsdale, south of Adelaide. Most of Bilyara's wines are bottled and stored at the Australian Bottling Company there. That year also saw a Bilyara red take the Jimmy Watson trophy for the second year in succession, the first time anyone had done so. The wine was judged from 240 entries.

Astonishment was combined with applause and envy when he did the same thing in 1976. Three in a row, an unparalleled accomplishment which ensured Wolf Blass as a talking point across Australia and not only in Australia, because Bilyara had begun to penetrate export markets with neighbouring countries.

It was a period of constant growth and new investment. Although Blass's reputation was founded on dry reds, whites had not been neglected. He had commenced work on these in 1969 and from 1970 onward had produced selected premium wines. Bilyara bought the latest equipment to take advantage of the technological changes that were sweeping through the industry in white wine production and the soaring demand for the resulting products. This necessitated still further additions to the winery. Warehouse and production areas were enlarged to the stage where Bilyara has a capacity for maturing 450,000 litres in French and American oak and stainless steel storage of more than 1,000,000 litres for Rhine Riesling and other dry whites.

In 1977 a public relations centre was opened so that clients could sample the range of Bilyara wines in style and comfort. In harmony with the Spanish style of the original complex, the centre is set in an attractive garden courtyard. Pressure on accommodation remained, however, and this was followed by the design and construction of a new office block to cater for the needs of an enlarged staff dealing with an ever-increasing volume of sales. Additional land was purchased to provide for the development of Bilyara over 8 hectares, and to meet demand for top white varieties the company entered the field of vineyard development with the purchase of a 49 hectare site in the Clare Valley.

Now styled Wolf Blass Wines International, the export market was pursued vigorously. Orders to Singapore and Hong Kong were repeated, showing that it was possible to prevail over intense competition from established European outlets. Major inroads were made in New Zealand in association with Ballins Industries, the largest Hotel owner and wine and spirit merchants in that country. In 1979 Wolf Blass demonstrated that he had lost none of his capacity for surprise when he announced that he was exporting wine to Germany. After discussions with Mr. Kuno Pieroth, chairman of the Pieroth companies, which have sales of $230 million annually, it was agreed to send Bilyara wines to Germany for sale there and in other E.E.C. countries. An initial order for 100,000 bottles was made under a specially designed Eaglehawk label with information about maker, district and variety on a back label. More orders came from New Guinea and Blass wines were also made available at trade commissions and embassies wherever Australia is represented abroad.

The late sixties and seventies had been a dynamic period of expansion for many Australian wineries, not least those in the Barossa Valley, brought about by technological change, the new development of new styles and the growing enthusiasm of Australians for the newly discovered bounty on their doorstep. Even so, the development of the Bilyara winery still startles those who remember its early days. The first shed had now grown into a very large modern complex that is so much a part of the Barossa landscape that it is taken for granted. It is evident in the front-of-house operation in the public relations tasting centre, in the administrative offices and behind the scenes with the ultra-modern equipment and the use of new technology, the casks (which are the ageless feature of wineries the world over) and the large warehouses.

John Glaetzer

When John Glaetzer joined Wolf Blass as wine-maker at Bilyara in 1975 it was the start of a uniquely rewarding partnership. Glaetzer is a graduate of Roseworthy Agricultural College in South Australia. Its oenology course is recognised as being one of the outstanding courses of its kind in the world. The college has produced a succession of leaders in the wine industry in this country. The German Kellermeister and the Australian graduate have pooled their special skills and experience so that it is often difficult now to tell where the contribution of one ends and the other begins. They are, however, quite different personalities. Wolf Blass is ebullient; John Glaetzer is quiet, even retiring, and happier in the laboratory or monitoring progress in the quiet of the maturation halls than in the more aggressive arena of marketing and promotion. Accordingly, he is more likely to be encountered behind the scenes than in front of house. Nonetheless, he went on to the platform in Melbourne to receive one of the triple successive Jimmy Watson award trophy presentations, public acknowledgement of the part he was playing in establishing Bilyara wines as a consistent style. In 1978 he was appointed director of operations of Wolf Blass Wines International, a position which enables him to play a full part in determining long-term policy and strategy as well as continuing his day-to-day work in ensuring that the wines which go into Wolf Blass bottles are worthy of the Wolf Blass and John Glaetzer philosophy. Although he comes from a different tradition, Glaetzer, one of twin brother wine-makers, was well qualified to appreciate what Blass was doing and to work with him in creating the new styles which were causing buyers to seek out the Eaglehawk label. As Director of Operations, John is fully in charge of vineyard development in the Barossa Valley and Seven Hills areas as well as the handling of all engineering expansion projects.

Wolf's Approach to Winemaking