IN THEIR early plantings, the Pannells couldn’t get chardonnay cuttings and in 1972 they defied the conventional wisdom favouring riesling and put in semillon. In 1976 a tiny batch of wine was oak barrel-fermented and quickly replaced from the 1977 vintage to the present by semillon made in classic Hunter Valley unoaked style.The semillon vines have brought an added bonus in the Moss Wood sauvignon-semillon blends that are now among Margaret River’s signature whites.This 2017 is green-tinted straw, has tropical fruit salad scents, and crisp gooseberry front-palate flavour. The middle palate has grapefruit, sherbet and mineral characters and the finish slatey acid. It and today’s other wines are at mosswood. com.au and fine wine stores.

Published January 27th, 2018