Moss Wood Winery

Western Australia, South West Australia

Ribbon Vale Merlot

Margaret River

$ AUD

Release Price

Drink Window

13.5%

ABV

pH

TA

RS

Nose

The nose is a bright expression of Merlot fruit, combining blackcurrant, mulberry and toffee apple. It is also quite complex, with plenty of leather and tar in the background.

Palate

A similar theme shows on the palate, with mouth-ﬁ lling red and black fruits, sitting over full body and ﬁ rm tannin. There is good length and the tannins are well balanced, with an astringency that gives a bituminous ﬁ nish but doesn’t leave the mouth dry or gritty.

Growing Conditions

We had a generally excellent growing season and yet we began the 2013 vintage with a degree of fear and trepidation. This was not because of any quality concerns but rather, we’d had a monumental hail storm on 30th November, 2012, the likes of which we hadn’t seen since 1996 and we were worried just how small our yields were going to be. The thing is, it is possible to see the damage but we don’t know the true extent until we actually start picking. The ﬁ rst of the Ribbon Vale reds to come off was the Cabernet Franc on 4th March and its yield was down by 30%, which wasn’t as bad as expected. When we started Merlot 8 days later, we hoped for the same and yes, we were in luck. That left Cabernet Sauvignon, which started on 27th March and sadly our hopes were dashed – its yield was down by just over 50%. Such is life in agriculture. What did matter was quality and that was very encouraging. Despite the stormy conditions outlined above, the season was warm to hot, especially at the end of December where we had one day with a maximum of 40oC, the hottest day for the summer. January temperatures eased but things warmed again at the beginning of February, although not quite as hot as December. March delivered typical autumn weather, so all the varieties moved gently to full maturity, especially Cabernet Sauvignon.

Bottling

1/10/2015

Winemaking

Cabernet Franc was hand-picked and destemmed into a small, open tank, seeded with a pure yeast culture and allowed to ferment at up to 30oC and hand plunged 3 times per day. After 13 days it was pressed to stainless steel, underwent malolactic fermentation and was ﬁ nally racked to barrel on 13th April, 2013. The casks were all 228 litre French oak. Merlot was hand-picked and destemmed into static fermenters, seeded with pure yeast culture and allowed to ferment up to 30oC and were pumped over 3 times per day. Skin contact time was 16 days, after which the wine was pressed to stainless steel. Malolactic fermentation was carried out by selected bacteria and after MLF the wine was racked to 228 litre French oak barrels on 23rd April, 2013. The Merlot blend was made up on 3rd March, 2015 and consisted of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. It was then returned to barrel where it stayed until 14th September 2015 when, after 30 months aging, it was racked to stainless steel. Fining trials were carried out but none improved the wine, so it was left unﬁ ned and then sterile ﬁ ltered and bottled on 1st October, 2015. The Merlot blend was made up on 3rd March, 2015 and consisted of 92% Merlot and 8% Cabernet Franc. It was then returned to barrel where it stayed until 14th September 2015 when, after 30 months aging, it was racked to stainless steel. Fining trials were carried out but none improved the wine, so it was left unﬁ ned and then sterile ﬁ ltered and bottled on 1st October, 2015.