Moss Wood Winery

Western Australia, South West Australia

Ribbon vale Sauvignon Blanc Semillon

Margaret River

$ AUD

Release Price

Drink Window

12.5%

ABV

pH

TA

RS

Nose

Immediately one noses the glass, there is an impact of Sauvignon Blanc zesty notes – grass, leaf and passionfruit, in fact almost musky and Gewurztraminer–like, bolstered by lemon sherbet from the Semillon. When describing the Moss Wood Semillon, we emphasised the sheer quality of 2017 and this thread runs through the Sauvignon Blanc Semillon as well.

Palate

The depth of fruit on the palate is tremendous and while the wine has the classic, acid freshness of the style, the high quality vintage has given it a generosity and length we don’t often see.

Growing Conditions

season was long and mild for Ribbon Vale and the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon were both entirely unhurried. Flowering was occurred on 4th December and 27th November, respectively, both 10 days later than average. The wet, cool conditions impacted on Semillon yield, which was down 13% to 10.05 tonnes per hectare. However, on a happier note, the Sauvignon Blanc flowered late enough to miss the worst of the rain and its yield was an excellent 13.1 tonnes per hectare, up by 22%. What a pleasant surprise! Full ripeness was a while in coming. Sauvignon Blanc came off at 11.6⁰ Baume on 9th March, two weeks later than average and the Semillon was picked at 13.2⁰ Baume on 1st April, spot on the average but 16 days later than usual. We had some moments fretting about rot in the Sauvignon Blanc. It has a very tight bunch, making it the most susceptible variety we grow, but we are delighted to report our spray program worked, with virtually no infection and any that was there was removed by sorting at the winery.

Bottling

12/07/2017

Winemaking

For both varieties, the fruit was hand-picked and whole bunch pressed, and the juice was settled in stainless steel tanks. The clear juice was then racked to stainless steel and seeded with multiple yeast strains. Once fermentation was under way, the wines were racked to 228 litre, French oak barrels, none of which were new, and where they stayed for 3 months. We prefer old oak because it allows the wine to develop good texture, without the fruit aroma being over-powered by wood characters. At the end of the aging period, all barrels were racked and blended in stainless steel, where it was fined with bentonite for protein stability and then sterile filtered and bottled on 12th July, 2017.