Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – John Lewis, Newcastle Herald
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – James Halliday, Wine Companion
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – James Suckling, jamessuckling.com
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – Fergal Gleeson, the great wine blog
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2017 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com

Tasting Notes

The wine has a light straw colour with green tints and is in bright condition. Immediately one noses the glass, there is an impact of Sauvignon Blanc zesty notes – grass, leaf and passionfruit, in fact almost musky and Gewurztraminer–like, bolstered by lemon sherbet from the Semillon. When describing the Moss Wood Semillon, we emphasised the sheer quality of 2017 and this thread runs through the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon as well. The depth of fruit on the palate is tremendous and while the wine has the classic, acid freshness of the style, the high quality vintage has given it a generosity and length we don’t often see.

Vintage Notes

Ripening Time from Flowering to Harvest
2017 Ribbon Vale Sauvignon Blanc – 95 days
2017 Ribbon Vale Semillon – 125 days

The 2017 season was long and mild for Ribbon Vale and the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon were both entirely unhurried. Flowering was occurred on 4th December and 27th November, respectively, both 10 days later than average.
The wet, cool conditions impacted on Semillon yield, which was down 13% to 10.05 tonnes per hectare. However, on a happier note, the Sauvignon Blanc flowered late enough to miss the worst of the rain and its yield was an excellent 13.1 tonnes per hectare, up by 22%. What a pleasant surprise!
Full ripeness was a while in coming. Sauvignon Blanc came off at 11.6⁰ Baume on 9th March, two weeks later than average and the Semillon was picked at 13.2⁰ Baume on 1st April, spot on the average but 16 days later than usual.
We had some moments fretting about rot in the Sauvignon Blanc. It has a very tight bunch, making it the most susceptible variety we grow, but we are delighted to report our spray program worked, with virtually no infection and any that was there was removed by sorting at the winery.

Production Notes

For both varieties, the fruit was hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, and the juice was settled in stainless steel tanks. The clear juice was then racked to stainless steel and seeded with multiple yeast strains. Once fermentation was under way, the wines were racked to 228 litre, French oak barrels, none of which were new, and where they stayed for 3 months. We prefer old oak because it allows the wine to develop good texture, without the fruit aroma being over-powered by wood characters.

At the end of the aging period, all barrels were racked and blended in stainless steel, where it was fined with bentonite for protein stability and then sterile filtered and bottled on 12th July, 2017.

Cellaring Notes

We definitely recommend this wine for early consumption.  Its lively aroma and bright fruit flavours make it an enjoyable young wine.  However, for those who like their white Bordeaux varieties with the complexity of some bottle age, 5 years in the cellar should see it develop the beginning of the mature notes of toast and butter.

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