Need for expansion

THE NEED FOR EXPANSION – THE PURCHASE OF RIBBON VALE VINEYARD

In planning a successful future for Moss Wood, Clare and Keith had to consider a range of interests, some of them personal, some professional and all of them challenging.

They would like to see Moss Wood continue as a family business but there are now four Mugford children. While it is too early to say if any will be involved, it is important for the business to be large enough to accommodate all their interests, should all four be keen to work in the company. Moss Wood in its original form was too small to do this.

Furthermore, the organisation was faced with the prospect of losing some of its key people because as a small business, it was unable to offer a continuing career path. To lose excellent staff under these circumstances would represent a risk to the company’s future, especially if there was no interest from the next generation of the Mugford family.

In addition to these issues, Moss Wood has had to come to terms with its place in the global wine market. It now has customers all around the world. This has increased the number of people seeking to buy its products and changed the price points at which they sell. This has affected the Cabernet Sauvignon in particular, which has risen significantly in price. Within the Australian market this has been a source of frustration for many consumers who were still keen to purchase a Moss Wood wine but found the price too high. Moss Wood did not have a product available to fill this void.

Furthermore, demand for outstanding quality table wine of any colour but especially red, has never been higher. The opportunity to take advantage of consumer interest was simply not there because the Moss Wood vineyard is so small. It was therefore necessary to look at alternatives and herein lies a crucial point: the key to success with Moss Wood has been that its wines are produced from only one vineyard. This has ensured the consistency of style and quality for which the brand is famous.

There is also an important philosophical point here. Clare and Keith were very aware that Moss Wood should not rest on its laurels or become complacent. The challenge of expansion was seen as important in maintaining this.

Given the above requirements, what were the options?

Option 1, Establish a New Vineyard

Using a careful and analytical approach, it would be possible to find a new location that shared similar characteristics with Moss Wood ie gravelly loam soils on a north-facing slope, in the Wilyabrup region. However, very few of those properties exist and even fewer are available for the planting of vines. Furthermore, even with a careful search, wines produced from that property could not be guaranteed of having the necessary quality to be blended with Moss Wood.

With that being the case, a new label and brand would need to be developed, a slow and expensive process given that it takes six years just to bring an unirrigated vineyard into full production and a further two years before the wines could be sold.

Option 2, Purchase an Established Vineyard

The purchase of an established vineyard, with its own label, was a more attractive prospect for two important reasons:

1. It is in full production, contributing to the profitability of the business immediately.
2. The quality and style of the wines are already clear.

This last point is significant in another way because it is generally agreed within the wine industry that old vines produce better quality than young ones, so, in the medium term, an established vineyard would hold a quality advantage.

The wines would be different from those grown at Moss Wood. However, good viticultural understanding and winemaking could bring the traditional Moss Wood approach to bear and ensure the same Moss Wood quality would evolve.

Ribbon Vale in The Frame

Clare and Keith were long-time admirers of Ribbon Vale, an eighteen acre vineyard, planted in 1977, in the heart of Wilyabrup. It was run in the traditional way, just as Moss Wood is unirrigated, hand-pruned and hand-picked. While it is planted on a southwest-facing slope, its soils are the classic gravelly loam over a clay sub-soil, responsible for the best table wines in the Margaret River region.

Its plantings were an interesting mix of Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc. These last two are not planted at Moss Wood and provided new winemaking challenges. They were also useful additions to enhance the portfolio of wines because they had proved to be of significant quality, with the Sauvignon Blanc being a wine show trophy winner.

Another interesting point about the vineyard was that the Cabernet Sauvignon clone at Ribbon Vale is different to that grown at Moss Wood. This would ensure that the wines from the two properties would remain individual and distinctive.

Since Ribbon Vale offered such useful opportunities, in 1998 the Mugfords approached John James, the owner and original developer, to discuss the possibilities for the future. Over the next two years, a deal was hatched which saw the property change hands in March 2000, just in time to make the 2000 vintage.

Changes in the Vineyard

The primary objective was to develop an understanding of the new vineyard. In particular, we needed to learn what the appropriate yield levels are for quality wine from each of the varieties. It is also necessary to understand the fruit flavours of each variety and what level of ripeness will maximise them. The further we move away from the year 2000 the more experience of growing seasons and vintages we are amassing, and the more data and ideas we are accumulating. While this is much less than our experience with the Moss Wood vineyard, we are beginning to have an influence over the way it performs.

The Ribbon Vale vineyard is now run under the Moss Wood program for all aspects of vineyard management, including pest and disease control, weed control, pruning and picking. In addition, the vineyard has been re-trellised to the “Scott Henry” system, to improve fruit exposure and ease of pruning and harvesting. The re-trellising was completed in the winter of 2001. Finally, we have introduced the use of bird nets to protect the crop from birds. This has allowed us the luxury of leaving the fruit to ripen more, an important contributor to improved wine style.

Changes in the Winery

All grape processing is now carried out at the Moss Wood winery. For the 2000 vintage, winemaking continued at Ribbon Vale but the decision was made to consolidate to Moss Wood for 2001. With hindsight, this was inevitable given the additional resources required to operate two wineries and the time spent moving between them. Furthermore, the equipment at Moss Wood is of a higher standard and it was pointless not to take advantage of it. Ribbon Vale now operates as an air-conditioned warehouse for all packaged stock.