Nose
Very scented; red fruit aromas of red currant and pomegranate; dark fruit aromas of blueberry and mulberry; floral, ethereal notes of violets, spice, dried herbs and red currant jelly; a background of tar, liquorice, seaweed, earth and cedar.
Palate
Immediate impact of vibrant fruit flavours – red currant, black currant, rich, long and generous; full body; great length and breadth; very silky tannin gives the wine density and concentration but with excellent balance and leaves a smooth texture; soft, tarry oak notes on the finish.
Growing Conditions
The point of this statement is to clear up any misconceptions that may have built up around the legend of the very difficult conditions experienced in south-eastern Australia for 2011. In those regions, with the notable exception of the Hunter Valley, the vintage was very difficult, largely because of the breaking of a decade long drought. Sometimes the tyranny of the distance of 4,000 kilometres works for us in a good way. Our unfortunate colleagues on the other side of the country had to deal with very trying conditions, to say the least. As is always the case, the best grapegrowers and winemakers made a good fist of things and produced excellent wine but, generally speaking, the vintage has a poor reputation. Our point is not to draw attention to the problems of others but rather to make crystal clear that these conditions did NOT occur in Western Australia in general, and Margaret River, in particular.So, what did happen in 2011 at Moss Wood? It was a very good season, indeed, and provided more of the same on the theme of west coast Indian summers. Annual rainfall for calendar 2010 was 9% below average, at 880 millimetres. However, we continued to receive timely rain, right through Spring and Summer for a total of 183 millimetres across that period. In particular there were two very useful falls of 23mm and 32mm in the first and last weeks of January, respectively.This is best shown by a closer look at the temperatures. The vines experienced 1010 hours in their preferred range of 18 – 28⁰C, 6% above the typical 952 hours. Little wonder they got to full sugar ripeness 8 days faster than usual. Similarly, they received plenty of warmth to drive out green fruit characters. There were 86 hours above 33⁰C, 51% above the average of 57 hours.
Bottling
19/11/2013
Winemaking
Our production process begins with the picking and regular readers of the Moss Wood newsletter will be fully aware that all our grapes are harvested by hand into small buckets. The fruit is loaded into bins and delivered to the winery where it is de-stemmed into small, open fermenters. At this point, each batch is seeded with a pure yeast culture for the alcoholic fermentation and once this is underway, the tanks are hand-plunged up to four times per day. The refrigeration system is set to maintain the ferment temperature at a maximum of 28⁰C. After about 5 days, the fermentation is approaching “dryness” and each batch is tasted at least once per day to monitor the tannin balance and decide when pressing should be carried out. In 2011, the wines had good balance and so skin contact was relatively short – Cabernet Sauvignon spent 12 days on skins, Cabernet Franc spent 10 days and Petit Verdot spent 12 days. Each batch was pressed to stainless steel tanks and underwent malolactic fermentation. After completion, all batches were analysed and acidity and sulphur dioxide adjusted and then racked to 225 litre French oak barriques in January 2012 the wine was racked and blended in stainless steel. The final blend consisted of 91% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Petit Verdot and 3% Cabernet Franc. The wine was then returned to barrel and received two more rackings, the first in January 2013 and then the final one in October 2013, when it was racked to stainless steel in preparation for bottling.
Aging
cellared for 25 years.
Appearance
Deep brick red; bright.
