Nose
Semillon has vibrant aromatics with citrus and fig notes and good weight. It has ripe fig and honey characters.
Palate
Semillon has delightful aromatics dominated at present by zesty grassy, herby aromas while the palate is refreshingly dry, with taut lemon zest flavours complexed by some figgy, grassy notes. It has impressive weight and power, a tight structure and a dry, firm grip on the finish.
Growing Conditions
Harvest for semillon was a very good one from the Moss Wood vineyard. The crop was slightly above average in size – a product of favourable conditions during flowering, good rainfall at the right times in winter and spring and mild conditions during the growing season. The semillon was first picked on the 16th of March (at 13.4° baume) and, as it had not been crop thinned, yielded 13 tonnes per hectare.
Bottling
22/7/2004
Winemaking
In the past, there has been little pressing of whole bunches with semillon because the press was not big enough to put through sufficient volumes. This year, we spent more time on the early stage of the pressing process and compensated for this by speeding it up as draining became more efficient. As a consequence, we destemmed and pressed half the semillon and put the balance through as whole bunches. After that all went as usual at Moss Wood. The juice was settled with enzymes for 48 hours, racked into stainless steel for fermentation along with 2% solids. Fermentation by pure yeast culture took place, with stirring every day until it was complete and the wine was dry. After that it was stirred once a week until the wine was ready for fining, filtering and bottling.
