Nose
Initially the nose is slightly closed, presenting a complex combination of red currant, tar and leather. After a few minutes breathing, the fruit aromas lift, adding mulberry and violets. In the background there is a scented oak lift of toast and black pepper-like spice. A classic “small-crop” Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon.
Palate
The theme of the palate is concentration and generosity. Ripe red currant flavours combine with some earthy flavours and fill the front and mid-palate. These sit over full body and excellent viscosity, the product of ripe, concentrated tannins, from both fruit and oak. These give the wine considerable length, leading to a finish of dusty, toasty oak.
Growing Conditions
Despite the consistency of the weather, each of them has their unique traits and we see this in the 2009. During spring 2008, we had quite cool conditions, with regular rainfall. Generally this is beneficial, especially in an unirrigated vineyard like Moss Wood but there was a curious negative associated with it. We occasionally find an unusual caterpillar in the vines called a Looper, because of the amusing way it forms into a loop as it crawls along. They feed on green tissue and will chew away on the immature bunches. Weather conditions rarely allow them to breed up to the sort of numbers that will do harm and we don’t treat for them. However, in 2008 they found conditions very much to their liking and did quite a bit if damage, especially in the sections of vineyard in close proximity to eucalypts.With its maritime climate, our region is notable for a lack of temperature extremes but 2009 seems to have been the most even of all. The data from our weather station is quite revealing. During the period from flowering to harvest, the Cabernet Sauvignon received a total of 1136 hours in its effective temperature range of 18 – 28⁰C, far exceeding our preferred minimum of 850. At the same time we avoided extreme heat because the vineyard only experienced a total 24 hours above 33⁰C.There is one last observation we wish to make about the weather. All other things being equal (and of course, they are usually not) if the temperatures are the same in 2 seasons, the vines will theoretically photosynthesise at the same rate and in which case, the one with the lower crop will ripen faster because the final amount of sugar the vine needs to accrue is less. It must be acknowledged that things like water availability, air temperatures, humidity and any of the other myriad items that influence photosynthesis are virtually never all the same but a good rule of thumb is that a smaller crop will ripen faster than a larger one. This being the case, why did the 23% lower crop in 2009 take 118 days to ripen, spot on the average for Cabernet Sauvignon? We suspect it further illustrates the influence of the cooler season.
Bottling
16/12/2011
Winemaking
Fruit flavour is far more subjective but we believe it’s possible to recognise the appearance of the characters that are crucial for high quality wine. In Cabernet Franc, we prefer to see dark cherry and plum; in Petit Verdot it is a dark fruit that’s more scented and blackberry-like; for Cabernet Sauvignon we look for red fruit like red currants but especially dark fruit like mulberry and blueberry.
Once received at the winery the fruit was destemmed into open tanks and seeded with pure yeast culture for primary fermentation. Once this was under way, the vats were hand-plunged 3 times per day and temperatures were controlled to a maximum of 28⁰C. As the fermentation reached its conclusion each batch was tasted twice daily to monitor the balance of tannins and depending on the batch, this was achieved at between 13 to 18 days on skins. Each tank was drained and pressed and all pressings blended in immediately. The new wines were settled, racked off gross lees and underwent malolactic fermentation after which they were racked into barrels.
Barrel aging continued until 24th October 2011, giving a final total of 30 months. The wine was then racked, all barrels were blended then fining trials were carried out. No improvement was noted with any of the different agents, so the wine was left un-fined. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 19th December, 2011.
Appearance
Deep brick red; bright.
