Moss Wood Winery

Western Australia, South West Australia

Ribbon vale Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

$ AUD

Release Price

Drink Window

12.5%

ABV

pH

TA

RS

Nose

A lifted and zesty aroma combination of leaf, gooseberry and citrus of Sauvignon Blanc, combining with a nice addition of lemon sherbet and fig from the Semillon. There are also some nice bread dough-like notes underneath, a product of the barrel fermentation.

Palate

Here the theme of freshness continues, with a zesty leaf and citrus fruit depth, lifted by crisp acidity. Mouthfeel is medium bodied and the texture is nicely rounded, with a touch of bread dough. The finish is clean, with no lingering tannin or bitterness.

Growing Conditions

Just as Moss Wood Semillon reveled in the good 2017/18 growing season, so did Ribbon Vale Sauvignon and Semillon. The numbers give a clear picture of just how good things were. Sauvignon Blanc was picked at 11.2° Baume on 21st February, 5 days earlier than average, with a yield of 14 tonnes per hectare. The Semillon came off on15th March at 13.5° Baume with a yield of 11.5 tonnes per hectare, a very handy 10% above average. Flavours, ripeness and yields were virtually exactly where we want them. How much of this was skill and how much was luck will be up to others to debate and we’ll leave readers to draw their own conclusions. Naturally, we at Moss Wood reckon it’s the former!

Bottling

10/07/2018

Winemaking

Having raw material of this quality meant that in the winery our aim was to make sure we got it safely in to bottle. For both varieties, the hand-picked fruit was whole bunch pressed and the juice was settled in stainless tank. The clear juice was racked to stainless steel, fermentation was commenced with multiple yeast strains and after 4 days, the must was racked to barrels. All were 228 litre French barriques but none were new, because we are only seeking the textural improvement rather than oak character.

After fermentation was completed, all the barrels were racked to stainless steel, with final blend being 74% Sauvignon Blanc and 26% Semillon.

Fining trials were then carried out and the wine was treated only with bentonite for protein stability. The balance of the wine was excellent and no improvement was found using the proteinaceous agents, egg white or skim milk. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 6th July, 2018.