News Archives - Moss Wood

2012 Spring Vineyard Update

We are delighted to report the Spring weather has so far been very much to our liking. There have been moments of trepidation as some heavy storms have come through during September and October bringing very strong winds and the threat of hail. High winds did some significant damage around the region, including blowing down a number of trees and cutting power supplies but they didn’t do much harm to the vineyard. We are hoping that at least part of the reason for this is the growth of our windbreak trees, planted a decade ago. Most importantly, the hail storms were only brief and the hail size was small. Flowering on all the early varieties is under way and the timing suggests we are slightly ahead of the average. If these temperature conditions continue, that puts us on track for a commencement of vintage around the 15th to 20th February, 2013. However there is, as they say, plenty of water to pass under the bridge before then.

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Vineyard 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Merlot

SPRING NEWSLETTER ISSUE 79

September 2012

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Vineyard 2010 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Merlot

Vintage Notes:

It might sound clichéd but the 2009/10 growing season was just about perfect. We had regular rainfall during Spring but missed out on conditions which may have compromised yields. At the same time, temperatures were warm enough to encourage even ripening but we received very little hot weather and so all varieties were spared any heat stress and the accompanying loss of flavour intensity. This is not to say there weren’t occasions when we looked at the weather and wondered just what we might be in for. In particular, we had a very impressive thunderstorm during November that was, for a brief period, right over the Moss Wood vineyard and produced some spectacular lightning, the shock waves from which rattled the Mugford house windows. These events are often accompanied by hail and we held our breath while it went by. Fortunately, it didn’t dump on us but we feared a repeat of December 1996, when a similar storm reduced the crop by around 80%. Sometimes you get lucky!

The other viticulutural threats of disease and bird damage were also kept under control, so we arrived at harvest feeling confident.

As is usual, the vintage produced typical variation. Yields on the Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot were above average, 12% and 7% respectively but Cabernet Franc let the side down slightly being 7% below average. We suspect the above mentioned thunderstorm and the associated downpour right in the middle of the Cabernet Franc flowering period probably caused the latter problem.

Harvest dates for Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc were slightly early and their period from flowering to harvest were also shorter. On the other hand Merlot, which likes to be contrary, was later on both counts.

However, one aspect where the three varieties were consistent was ripeness where all were picked at slightly lower sugar levels than average. We think this gives an insight into the quality of the year, with the consistent but mild conditions allowing flavour, tannin and sugar ripeness to all proceeded in unison.

A further note regarding quality is the impact of higher yield for the Cabernet Sauvignon. It is an interesting fact that the Moss Wood wines of which we are most proud all come from these sorts of vintages ’08, ’05 and ’01 to name just a few. Yet it is frequently assumed that lower yield will produce better quality. Pinot Noir is often used as an example and yes, it seems to benefit from a commensurate increase in concentration. However, Cabernet’s greater depth of colour and tannin mean lower crop levels can increase concentration to the point where the wine is dense, unyielding and very slow to mature. Our best experience of this is the 1981 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon, a very small-cropped year which took two decades to exhibit any maturity, roughly half the normal rate of development. The wine has extraordinary cellaring capability but we’re not convinced this is a great thing, other than to perhaps establish bragging rights. Take as an example the 1980 vintage – that Cabernet Sauvignon has now successfully cellared for 30 years and where the cork is sound, shows no sign of deteriorating. This being the case, it begs the question is there anything to be gained by keeping a low yielding year for say 50 years?

Production Notes

Median Harvest Dates:

Cabernet Sauvignon – 27th March, 2010

Merlot – 23rd March, 2010

Cabernet Franc – 5th March, 2010

Harvest Ripeness:

Cabernet Sauvignon – 13.4⁰Baume

Merlot – 12.7⁰ Baume

Cabernet Franc – 12.8⁰ Baume

All the fruit was hand-picked and destemmed into small, open, stainless steel fermenters. Each batch was inoculated with pure yeast culture and fermentation temperatures were maintained at a maximum of 28°C. Extraction of colour and flavour was by hand plunging up to four times per day. The impact of tannin was monitored with daily tastings and the individual batches were pressed when optimum balance had been achieved. For the Cabernet Sauvignon this was 23 days, for Merlot 17 days and for Cabernet Franc, 10 days.

After pressing, each wine was racked into barrel where malolactic fermentation took place. Upon completion the wines were racked backed to stainless steel tanks, adjusted for acidity then returned to barrel.

In February 2011 tasting trials were used to decide on the best blends for 2010. The quality of the Cabernet Sauvignon stood out and its contribution rose quite significantly compared with the ’09. The final blend was 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 18% Merlot and 7% Cabernet Franc. The Merlot on the other hand held to tradition, or close to it, with 96% Merlot and 4% Cabernet Franc.

The new blends were racked back to barrel, where they stayed until June 2012, for a total of 26 months in wood.

Both wines were racked to stainless steel and fined, the Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot with egg whites and the Merlot with skim milk, and then sterile filtered and bottled on 25th June, 2012.

Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Tasting Notes

Colour and condition:

Deep brick red hue; bright condition.

Nose:

The 2010 red wines typically have lifted perfumes and the Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot is no exception. The normal Ribbon Vale concentrated Cabernet fruit aromas of red currant, leather and cedar are all in evidence but they are complemented by fragrant notes of violets and roses. The Merlot also adds a mulberry-like, dark fruit and the aging in barrel has added to the complexity with charry and tarry characters.

Palate:

We would normally expect this vineyard to produce wines where the firm structure provides the base upon which all the other flavours sit. In some years, these quite dense tannins can be drying, requiring very long term cellaring to soften. However, in 2010, the generous red and dark fruit flavours give the wine a rich mid-palate and good length. The combination of an outstanding vintage and experience with the vineyard gives us confidence that the Ribbon Vale vineyard is now producing its finest Cabernet Sauvignon wines.

Cellaring:

Given the high quality nature of the vintage, we unhesitatingly recommend this wine for cellaring. The generosity of the year will of course mean the wine drinks very well in the short term. However, we believe that it will age well, in the mould of similar years from the past like 2001, 1996 and 1991. It will require at least 10 years in bottle to develop the beginnings of its bottle bouquet but our recommended cellaring time is 15 to 20 years.

Merlot Tasting Notes

Colour and condition:

Deep brick red hue; bright condition.

Nose:

The aromas in this wine are a celebration of red and dark fruits but especially mulberry and black currant – remarkably generous. However, underneath are lots of interesting earthy and smoky notes, providing interesting nuances and complexity.

Palate: As with the Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend, it is another example of the success of the 2010 vintage. The mulberry and blackberry fruit flavours are mouth-filling, making the almost sweet and generous. However, Merlot’s characteristic tannins still arrive at the finish to give the wine a firm, bituminous finish.

Cellaring:

The issue of cellaring for our Merlot wines is curious. With such early generosity and complexity, the wine is unquestionably enjoyable to drink as a youngster and this begs the question of what benefit may be achieved by aging. The answer is that for consumers who prefer the plentiful fruit flavours, the wine is at its best when young. However, for those who enjoy the complexity that comes with time in bottle, it has a long and promising life in front of it. We suggest a minimum cellaring time of 10 years but recommend 15 to 20 years to allow the wine to reach full maturity.

Rating: Stars

Spring Vineyard Update

Our current Spring season is looking very promising and surprisingly good, with regular rainfall but little damage. At this time of year, especially if we are experiencing wet conditions, we can have quite damaging storms, where strong winds and hail take a severe toll on the vines, especially the early varieties like Chardonnay. Fortunately, so far we have avoided wind and hail damage and the vines look to be in rude good health.

The timing of the rain has not been ideal for Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with quite a bit falling during the first week of November, when both varieties were flowering. We suspect their bunch weights may be affected and so won’t be surprised if their yields are down by perhaps 5 – 10 percent. The other varieties have so far been luckier.

These conditions make the life of a machinery operator something of a challenge because fungicide applications can’t be made in the rain and so we have had to time our spray runs very carefully. So far we have been able to keep the program on track.

On balance, we have seen similar seasons before, especially in the early 1990s. According to Keith’s slowly fading memory, there is commonality with 1990-91 and more particularly, 1991-92. If the 2012 turns out as well as either of those, there’ll be no complaints.

Rating: Stars

Tasmanian, Hong Kong and New Zealand Trips

One of the really fun aspects of wine, for both consumers and producers alike, is the fact it provides all sorts of interesting opportunities for travel. Clare and Keith have been lucky enough to enjoy the hospitality of the kindest people, all round the world. This year saw them venture to locations that they had not often visited. This doesn’t reflect badly on the places themselves but rather on the Mugfords for not making the effort to visit more often.

In September, they hosted two events in Tasmania, one in Hobart at Smolt Restaurant, and one in Launceston at Mud Restaurant. Don’t be put off if the names seem slightly unusual because Kif Weber – Front of House and Scott (the dishwasher) McMurray – Chef and their staff do a fantastic job and both locations are definitely worth trying. Also worth trying in Hobart is Me Wah at Sandy Bay, serving some of the best Cantonese-style food in Australia, with a wine list to please the sternest critic. Of course, every state has its rivalries and we think it adds to the experience but we still enjoy teasing the Taswegians about the competition between Launceston and Hobart. There’s plenty of spirit in that relationship.

Equally impressive, albeit in a different way, were Hong Kong and Macau. Hong Kong is one of our favourite cities – incredibly beautiful and busy and always fun to visit. Moss Wood has been represented there for about 25 years and Clare and Keith were in town to work with their agents, Summergate Fine Wines. They participated in a number of successful events and Clare and Keith pass on their thanks to the Summergate team for all their help. The highlight, quite literally, was to be lucky enough to host a wine dinner at the new Ritz Carlton in Kowloon. Wine dinners are something the Mugfords have done a few of over the years but this was the highest, at least in a man-made building. For those not familiar with this new hotel, reception is on the 101st floor and the restaurant is on the 108th. The Mugfords have never before done a tasting in a building high enough to have the view blocked by passing clouds. The food, by the way, was fabulous.

The end of September saw the Clare and Keith make their first visit to New Zealand. Moss Wood has employed more than its fair share of Kiwis over the years and so Clare and Keith have a great affection for the “cousies” across the Tasman. Not that Clare was too worried but Keith’s concern was they may have been tempted to remind us of the less than impressive performance of the Wallabies at the recent Rugby World Cup. He needn’t have worried because the New Zealanders were suitably humble and seemed more relieved than anything but also immensely proud.

The short trip meant the focus was on Auckland only, a city with a very impressive wine and food culture, something in the vein of Melbourne, albeit somewhat smaller. Successful tastings and dinners were held at, a spectacular private home of car and wine fanatics, lovely people. A great dinner was eaten at Café Hanoi; special thanks go to Monsoon Poon (South East Asian Trading House Restaurant) for hosting a Moss Wood tasting and lunch for journalists, Bob Campbell, Jo Burzynska, John Saker and John Hawkesby, and to Ash for doing a great job on this day, as we are sure he does every day. An excellent Moss Wood consumer tasting was conducted at Village Winery, with owner Bill Vincent, his Wife and shop manager Jill. Special thanks to also go to Cameron Douglas, Master Sommelier and Senior Lecturer, in charge of the Wine and Beverage Programme at AUT University, for showing us his outstanding facility and tasting through the Moss Wood range.

During our trip we also visited and were very impressed with The Fine Wine Delivery Company, Sky City, The Grill, The Grove and Clooney. At the Northern Club, a classic and old establishment with incredible history, where we were pleased to meet Nigel DeVere Ellery and Glengarry, where we were privileged to meet Jak. We are hopeful we haven’t missed anybody and must congratulate our agent Michael Jemison for an excellent and packed marketing trip.

Rating: Stars

Hyatt Regency Perth, Wine Week Moss Wood Inspirations tasting

On Saturday 20 August 2011, we had the privilge of conducting a tasting of rare and special wines at the Hyatt Regency, Perth.

In seeking to show some of the inspirations for Moss Wood wine styles we very cheekily allowed ourselves the opportunity to taste some outstanding wines and compare them to their Moss Wood equivalent vintages, both young and old.

There were four brackets; Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Sauvignon.

By virtue of the rarity of these wine it was quite a small tasting and we thought it might be interesting to share the tasting proceedings with our mailing list customers.

Semillon

Firstly, we discussed the Semillon wines and of course, from our point of view, that required us to refer to the inspiration of the Hunter Valley wines for the Moss Wood wine style. Semillon from the Hunter Valley is one of Australia’s few unique wines styles.

The region’s leading producers, Brokenwood, Drayton’s, Lindeman’s, Mangan, McWilliams, Tulloch, Tyrell’s, to name but a few, can lay claim to making some of this country’s best and longest lived white wines. It’s probably no surprise that we have tried to build the best of the Hunter Valley wines into our Semillon style.

Although we have experimented with barrel aging and lees stirring, our technique has copied the Hunter, by using clean, pure yeast fermentations and early bottling to retain pristine fruit aromas. Simplicity of technique may give some insight into our enthusiasm for this variety. If quality was measurable, it would be easy to see that “pound for pound”, Semillon punches way above its weight. It grows well in the vineyard, produces good crops and is processed quickly and easily in the winery. Its more highly fancied siblings require all sorts of mollycoddling but in the end, as an old wine, Semillon can easily match them.

The two regional styles diverge slightly as young wines because for the Hunter, this means bright citrus fruit characters, especially lemon and lime, with background notes of lanolin and a very crisp palate structure, with high acid and low alcohol, generally around 11% (v/v).

On the other hand, in Margaret River, acidity tends to be slightly higher, meaning the harvest ripeness also tends to be higher because winemakers want more alcohol and body to improve balance of acidity on the palate. This means the citrus fruit notes are joined by Semillon’s riper characters, like fig and honey. However, with aging, there is convergence.

Both styles develop interesting and complex bouquets with toasty, buttery, nutty and caramel characters coming to the fore after about 10 years cellaring. They also share the interesting trait of “adolescence”, where in the middle years, say age 3 to 7, the wines can be subdued on the nose, having lost some of their primary fruit intensity but not having yet reached the age where the mature notes develop. Once they’ve reached maturity, the Hunter Valley wines have proven themselves capable of cellaring beyond 20 years.

When our first Semillons were released, we hoped they would offer the same but our recommendations were always conservative, suggesting cellaring for up to 10 years. Having been producing the style since 1977, we can now proudly claim that 20 years is achievable and encourage all who have room in their cellars to keep some Semillon for the long term.

To illustrate this we tasted through the Moss Wood 2005 Semillon, the Tyrell’s 2005 Vat 1 Semillon, the Moss Wood 1997 Semillon, and the Tyrell’s 1997 Vat 1Semillon all showed well and all in attendance agreed that each wine was a great example of the style.

The young wines were still very fresh, with lots of crisp citrus flavour, although there was the expected divergence in style between the regions. On the other hand, both older wines had developed into classic Semillon. The colours were deep gold and the aromas a rich combination of citrus, butter and toast. On the palate, there was crisp acid in both but they were each beginning to round out and show nice sweetness. The Tyrell’s, in particular, promised at least another 5 years cellaring – a truly great wine.

Chardonnay

The next bracket was Chardonnay and the wines from which we drew inspiration. Moss Wood established its first Chardonnay vineyard in 1976, at a time when Australia commenced its love affair with the variety. Considering other noble French varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz had been in production for so long, the relatively late arrival of Chardonnay is surprising. It meant our now famous names were only just emerging and apart from Tyrell’s, whose Vat 49 was the nation’s forerunner in barrel fermented Chardonnay, names like Petaluma, Mount Mary, Leeuwin Estate, Cullen and Pierro were all still establishing themselves.

Hence, our inspirations were largely from overseas and while some interesting wines were being made in California, the very best came from Burgundy. This is where we turned our attention. The Cote D’Or produces a huge range of styles and it’s not possible to generalise about villages, vineyards and producers. This diversity is one of the region’s great attractions. However, our tastings and visits gradually led us to conclude that of the three key areas, Chablis, Meursault and Puligny, the Moss Wood Chardonnay had most in common with the latter.

Our wines do not have the flintiness or minerality of the former. In essence, the technique of production for high quality Chardonnay is careful fermentation and extended aging in barrels, then bottling when the wine has achieved the best balance of fruit aroma and complexity. The complex notes are gained through a variety of techniques – wild yeast fermentation; types and amount of new oak; contact with lees; encouraging malolactic fermentation and so on. The extent to which these are used and the impact they have varies enormously between producers.

The primary fruit aromas of Chardonnay change with different ripeness. When picked early, there is a predominance of limes and grapefruit. As harvest gets later, they progress through nectarine, pear and peach to tropical notes like guava and passion fruit. In Puligny, the wines tend to display some of the citrus notes but have a predominance of white-flesh stone fruit characters, often with lifted perfumes of honey suckle, blossoms and orange zest.

Then, depending on the technique used by the producer, complexity will appear in the background as a combination of mushroom, roast nut, cheese, caramel, toast etc. This is then presented on a palate where, almost invariably, the wines are medium to full body, with a firm structure combining high, but not intrusive acid, and some astringency. The effect is one where the bright fruit notes and complexity combine to give mouth-filling flavour and length, without the heaviness or oiliness which can be a problem in full flavoured white wines.

Although Chardonnays made in this way are already very complex, they will improve with cellaring. The bottle bouquet enhances the toasty, caramel and nutty notes and on the palate, the astringency and acidity soften and the bottle-developed flavours add length, giving a richer, sweeter mouth feel. In both Margaret River Chardonnay and White Burgundy, this takes around 10 years to evolve and the wines continue to improve at least until 20 years of age.

The wines tasted were Moss Wood 2009 Chardonnay, Domaine Leflaive 2008 Les Folatieres, Moss Wood 2001 Chardonnay and Domaine Leflaive 2001 Les Folatieres. It was very interesting how similar these wines were to each other and gratifying that we could see a definite stylistic link. The expected stone fruit characters were evident in both the young wines, with the Leflaive showing a distinct honey note in the background, while the Moss Wood showed off its roast nuts.

The older pair was still very youthful, with mostly primary fruit in evidence, although the toasty and buttery notes were just beginning to show. Both of them are still very much in their infancy and have at least another 5 years of cellaring to show their full bottle bouquet.

Pinot Noir

We then went on to Pinot Noir. It is fascinating to reflect on how the popularity of Pinot Noir wines has changed over the last 40 years.

The variety is now very much in the mainstream but when Moss Wood Pinot Noir was planted in 1973; its appeal was limited to those few who were lucky enough to have been schooled in the mysteries of Burgundy. It also meant that production of the wine was limited to a dedicated group of producers, who treated it as something of a holy grail. As a wine style, it is far removed from the classic big Aussie red.

In the early days, the grape growing and winemaking techniques required to produce it, were viewed with suspicion and those who practiced the dark arts were considered fanatical and perhaps, deranged. All too often, the question would be asked, “Why do they bother?” The thing is they bothered because, to a person, the fanatics had experienced the classic Pinot Noir moment, when suddenly the magic revealed itself and they were destined to be forever under its spell.

Unfortunately, this brings with it complications because the variety is perhaps the most sensitive of all and responds quickly and often profoundly, to the nuances of the environment, the season and techniques of production.

As a result, if not managed correctly, it can be prone to major swings in quality. This has led English wine critics, in particular, to claim that one should choose Burgundy (read Pinot Noir) as one’s mistress but choose Bordeaux (read Cabernet Sauvignon) as one’s wife.

So, despite all this, we are fortunate that Bill and Sandra Pannell had the imagination and enthusiasm to include Pinot Noir in the vineyard at Moss Wood and were prepared to commit the time and effort to learning about the variety and how to produce it.

Pinot Noir continues to provoke strong opinions. Even in the current market, where the spread of consumers is way beyond the traditional Burgundy “freaks”, the naysayers still abound. Except these days, the question is now, “Why do they bother in Margaret River?” With so much good Pinot Noir being made in Pemberton, or the Adelaide Hills, or southern Victoria and east coast Tasmania, perhaps there’s some logic to the question.

However, having looked closely at our Margaret River wine, we concluded it is worthy of comparison with these, and other regions, and over the years, we have sought to improve it against the benchmark of Red Burgundy.

Once again, it’s not possible to generalise about the red wine style of this region because the variations between villages, vineyards and producers are myriad. In fact, the variety’s sensitivity means they are even greater than for Chardonnay. Perhaps Moss Wood has more in common with the wines of the south of the Cote de Beaune, like Pommard or Volnay but the influences spread right across the region.

Despite all its different iterations, it is possible to indentify some key traits we see as being crucial in good Pinot Noir. As the grapes ripen, a very significant range of aromas and flavours reveal themselves. Early on, there are soft, slightly indistinct red fruits accompanied by green herbs like coriander which are then replaced by dried herbs, like cumin. The red fruits gradually become more distinct, revealing strawberry-type notes and the spices become more scented and smoky, almost barbeque-like.

As ripening continues, the fruits become darker, more cherry and plum, and other complexities emerge. These can be ethereal, like rose petals, or earthy, like mushrooms, soil and leather. This array of smells replays as flavours across the palate, making it long and complex. At the same time, there is no heaviness to the structure, with astringency that is rarely aggressive and does not intrude on the smooth texture and rounded mouth feel.

Inherent complexity and balance in young Pinot Noirs makes them very attractive to drink early and many can be written off as too soft to benefit from aging. However, the variety develops a classic bottle bouquet which builds the leather and earth notes and further integrates the astringency. Generally, the wines take around 10 years to show the benefit of cellaring, becoming gradually more complex with each passing year, achieving full complexity between 15 and 20 years old.

In this bracket were the Moss Wood 2008 Pinot Noir, Comte Armand 2008 Pommard Clos des Epeneaux, Moss Wood 2001 Pinot Noir and Comte George de Vogue 2000 Chambolle Musigny Premier Cru.

We did see some commonality in the style between Moss Wood and the Clos des Epeneaux. Both showed dark berry fruit notes and earthy complexity, with the tannin structure slightly firmer in the Pommard. The older pair was also similar in style, although the Chambolle Musigny showed its class with lifted earthy and spicy fruit notes.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Finally, we discussed our inspirations for Cabernet Sauvignon wines at Moss Wood. When Dr. John Gladstones first proposed Margaret River as a viticultural region, it was on the basis that its maritime climate shared similarities with Bordeaux and was therefore likely to be suitable for producing Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines.

This prompted the early pioneers into action and soon enough people like Tom Cullity, Bill and Sandra Pannell and Kevin and Di Cullen had Cabernet Sauvignon vines in the ground. When the first vintages were released in the early to mid 1970’s, the results were encouraging, with the wines showing very good characters. History has since shown Dr. Gladstones was right.

The new producers sought styles against which they could judge themselves and since Bordeaux was (and remains) the pre-eminent Cabernet Sauvignon region in the world, the wines from the Medoc, in particular, were continually used as a benchmark. Australian inspiration, if slightly less significant, came primarily from Coonawarra, where the wines from Wynn’s, Mildara, Brands and Redman were highly regarded. There were also new producers emerging there, like Bowen Estate.

Finally, the other region that appeared to be developing in parallel with Margaret River was the Yarra Valley, where producers like Fergusons, St. Hubert’s and the great Mount Mary made wines that captured people’s attention.

If Medoc wines were the benchmark, one of the favourites was the famous second growth from Paulliac, Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande. From its simple classical label, to its generous (for a Medoc) wine style, it gave insight into not only how Cabernet Sauvignon could be made but also how it could be sold.

The design inspiration eventually caused problems because after 30 years, Moss Wood was well enough known overseas to be appearing regularly with Pichon Lalande in wine tastings and on retail shelves.

The similarity of the labels produced often less than favourable comments and so the Moss Wood design was altered to make sure it was seen as individual in its own right and not a copy.

In the early days, the great vintages like 1959, 1961, 1966, 1975 and 1976 were well known but remained rare treats for Margaret River winemakers. However, Bordeaux went through something of a renaissance from 1978 onwards and the wines produced over the next 10 vintages were more widely available and were closely examined, especially 1982, 1983 and 1985. Gradually the relationship, if we can call it that began to wane slightly – the ardour had cooled.

With hindsight this seems obvious but we finally came to understand that Bordeaux produced Bordeaux wine and consumers wanted Margaret River wine from us. It was not that we thought any less of the Bordeaux growers but we realised the importance of capturing and highlighting the positive things that Cabernet Sauvignon produced in our vineyard.

This led to small but important changes, including the introduction of the different blending varieties to complement the backbone of Cabernet Sauvignon; a clearer understanding of the ripening and flavour development; evolution of winemaking technique to improve fruit depth and tannin balance. The list goes on.

Although we are proud of our individuality, there are still some features in the Medoc wines, loosely referred to as the “Claret” characters, we want to retain in ours. Cabernet Sauvignon, just as we have seen with the other varieties, changes its aromas as the grapes ripen.

Initially it shows general red berry notes, with a very distinct herbaeceousness, similar to cut grass, capsicum or eucalypt. The aromas then progress through red and then dark fruits like red currant, mulberry and, when very ripe, plum. The perfumed notes change to violets, cedar and tar, the Claret characters and at their best, the Bordeaux wines show just about the perfect combination of these.

The cellaring potential of Bordeaux wine is legendary. The great Chateaux have proven themselves capable of making vintages that will keep for decades, so whether these wines should be aged is beyond doubt.

However, it’s worth examining how the wines change and what is appropriate as a minimum cellaring time, so the wines can be enjoyed with a reasonable amount of bottle-derived improvement. After all, very few of us are drinking our grandparents’ cellars. Instead, most are buying wine now, with the hope we can retain a little of it for mature drinking.

As a general rule, Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines take at least 10 years to reveal their bottle bouquet, after which steady improvement can be expected for a further decade. Beyond 20 years the accompanying changes are few, other than the gradual deterioration of bottles with poor corks. In these bottles, the colour will “brown” much faster and the fruit aromas are replaced by higher volatility on both the nose and palate. Under sound corks, the beneficial changes are an increase in the cedar, tar and leather notes, making the both the nose and the palate more complex. At the same time, softening of the tannins reduces the astringency, giving the wine a much sweeter, rounder mouth feel.

The Cabernet wines we tasted were Moss Wood 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Chateau Pichon Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande 2007, Moss Wood 1996 Cabernet Sauvignon, Chateau Pichon Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande 1996.

Both the young wines were typical of their vintage and region. Moss Wood showed the fruit concentration and tannin ripeness, so typical of 2008 in Margaret River. The Pichon Lalande had similar dark fruits but with more of Paulliac’s complex earth and leather notes. The older wines had both developed some bottle bouquet, so there were delicious tarry and waxy notes appearing.

However, each wine still retained clear and strong primary fruit aromas and flavours, suggesting they still have many years to go before full maturity.

Rating: Stars

3AW 693 News Talk 2010 Wine of the Year Awards

Wine commentary has something of a proud tradition, in that those who write or speak on the subject are, without exception, a ruggedly individual bunch and the breadth of opinion on wine and wine style is probably as diverse as any artistic pursuit. To digress for a brief moment, there are times, of course, when we don’t necessarily agree with critical comment but it’s one of the great things about our business that everyone’s opinion is valid. No matter what other people may say, all tastes are individual and people like what they like. People outside Melbourne may not be aware of long time wine enthusiast and commentator, Kim West, who presents for radio station 3AW on Saturday afternoons. The format is wide ranging and includes discussion about new releases, wine areas, talkback and so on. Kim tastes a huge number of wines each year and discusses them at length for his radio audience, in a style all his own. He has also been known to call winemakers at ungodly hours on a Sunday morning, to debate wine issues and hold them to account on points of quality and style, as well as pay them much respected compliments.

Luckily for us, we now have proudly on display at Moss Wood, two prized awards, the 3AW 2010 Red Wine of the Year and the 3AW Best Cabernet Sauvignon of the Year, both given for the Moss Wood 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon. These were hand delivered by Kim on his recent visit to Wilyabrup for the Cullen’s 40th birthday celebrations. For which they held an excellent party that we were lucky enough to attended and a weekend involving, amongst other things, a tastings of historic and outstanding Cullen wines, which was by all accounts also outstanding. Our congratulations go to the Cullen’s on their forty great years and many thanks to Kim for our awards!

Rating: Stars

Vintage 2011

The 2011 vintage is now safely tucked away in the winery and we are pleased to report a very good quality year. During the harvest period, the weather has been absolutely sensational, with day after day of maxima in the high 20’s or low 30’s, without a cloud in the sky.

Grape ripening was steady all the way through but fortunately not so rapid that we couldn’t keep up. Each variety came off at full ripeness but not beyond. Early is the season we experienced some variable conditions when above average temperatures were accompanied by regular rain during spring and early summer. However, the variations generally happened when they suited us best, giving reasonable flowering conditions and topping up the soil moisture. Across all varieties, yields were slightly above average for the early ones and then slightly below average for the later ones. Although it is too early to be definitive, the least we can say is that quality is very encouraging. Given the consistent warmth, we have to compare it to similar warm years like 1983, 1988, 1994, 2003 and 2007. The white wines seem to show the bright fruit characters and freshness of 1983 and this comparison holds true for the reds as well, however on the palate they seem softer and richer, more in keeping with 1994 or 1996.

Rating: Stars

The Grand Armee

Regular readers will be aware we’ve had many European backpackers helping at Moss Wood over the last year and since the French contingent has been strong, we have alluded to Napoleon’s Grande Armee.

It seems that last year, we had the advanced guard and this year we really do have the Grand Armee because of our 24 pickers, 18 were French. In fact, we’ve never had so many French visitors in Margaret River and they’ve proven to be a friendly and hard working bunch. It’s not uncommon to see large groups of them socialising at various locations in the region and they have occasionally earned the wrath of the local rangers with their camping habits, but not the Moss Wood pickers, of course! We’re not sure whether we could make the same observations about Aussies doing the backpacking thing in the Greek Islands but let’s hope so.

Just as Napoleon picked up other nationalities along the way, so have we. This year we had two firsts – our first Russian, and our first Finn, Henna Rantakangas. Henna, a diminutive soul, with an iron constitution and who has the expected fair skin, is delighted by her grapepicking tan and can’t understand why we keep harassing her about wearing sunscreen.

Rating: Stars

Many thanks to Anna Firth

Over the last few months, as we have had some staff changes in our office, we have been assisted by Anna Firth. Luckily for us, Anna, a Cowaramup local who’s parents Lorraine and Richard own one of Western Australia’s very best resorts, Merribrook, holds a double degree in Fine Arts and Communication from the University of Western Australia, who happened to have some spare time while waiting to head off to tour South America and then work in the USA. We tried to convince her to stay longer but she politely declined and perhaps we can understand why. Where would be more interesting – Moss Wood or Manhattan? So a big thank you to Anna and we wish her all the best.

Rating: Stars

Welcome to Valerie and Adriana

Anyone telephoning Moss Wood shouldn’t be surprised if the phone is answered by someone with a slightly exotic accent. It is often said that Australia is a migrant nation and Western Australia, especially in the era of the resources boom, is a migrant state and we currently reflect that, with our two new office staff being, to coin an old fashioned phrase, “New Australians”. Valerie Burkhardt, proud dual citizen of Australia and France, is a Cowaramup local. Adriana Ore’fice came to Australia from Sao Paulo in Brazil and now lives in Yallingup.

Rating: Stars