Moss Wood 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon

VINTAGE NOTES

We knew from quite early on the 2016/17 growing season was going to be a mild one. The spring temperatures were below average delaying the flowering by a fortnight and this remained the theme all the way through to harvest.

We always get a bit edgy when contemplating cooler seasons because there’s a delicious irony (nice pun?) to confront. On the one hand, they have been responsible for some of Moss Wood’s greatest wines and 1975 and 1990 come quickly to mind. However, they can make ripening of Cabernet Sauvignon very marginal indeed and as Chrissie Amphlett used to sing, it’s a fine, fine line between pleasure and pain. As much as we love the subtlety and complexity of the above two wines, we could do without the anxiety associated with all the waiting during ripening.

For those not quite following the point, the lower the temperature the slower the ripening. Our most important but latest ripening variety is Cabernet Sauvignon, which typically ripens in the last week of March. However, if we have a cool season and ripening drags on into April, the quality is threatened by rain and bird attack. On the other hand, the lower temperatures are very beneficial for the fruit aromas and flavours. In these seasons Cabernet Sauvignon retains floral notes that give a rare glimpse of its full range.

As we said, it’s a fine line and we are entirely in the hands of Mother Nature. In 2017 she made plenty of idle threats but in the end took pity on the humble grapegrowers of Margaret River and delivered a classic, West Coast Indian Summer. We couldn’t have done any better if we’d written the script ourselves.

Aside from the generally low temperatures discussed above, we had drizzly weather during flowering and 16 days when minima were below the crucial 8°C. These cool nights were right at the beginning of the process, so appear to have done little harm, with yield for Cabernet Sauvignon being only very slightly below average. There was a 39mm dump of rain that came on 12th December which didn’t help matters but at least on that day the temperatures weren’t too low.

Through January we experienced delightful conditions, if somewhat mild. The mean temperature of 19.5°C was nearly 1° below average, so beach days were at a bit of a premium. February was similar and during the second week we also received 22mm of rain which freshened things up. It was during March when we started to have Chrissie Amphlett ringing in our ears, when we racked up 81mm of rain. Yes, with the arrival of autumn we expect to see some showers but not necessarily quite that much.

At this stage, the late flowering and mild temperatures were beginning to loom large. Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon needs at least 1100 hours where the temperature is between 18 and 28°C to reach full ripeness but by the end of March, it had received 1046 and astute readers will note that to achieve the additional 50+ hours, we needed another 10 bright sunny days.

At this point Mother Nature had a complete change of heart. The sun shone and most importantly, the rain stopped and we started picking Cabernet Sauvignon in the second week of April, at 13.0° Baume and with full flavour ripeness after 1120 hours of ripening under its belt.

Meanwhile, the blending varieties were going about their business. Cabernet Franc came off on 4th April at a very creditable ripeness of 13.9° Baume, followed 11 days later by Petit Verdot at an even more impressive 13.9 Baume. Who would have known it had been so mild?

Yields across the 3 varieties were varied. At 4.39 tonnes per hectare, Cabernet Franc was down 26% but Cabernet Sauvignon was virtually spot on its average at 7.37 tonnes per hectare and Petit Verdot went ballistic. Its yield of 7.25 tonnes per hectare was an amusing 32% above average. We don’t often get the chance to write a statement like that.