The first vintage in 1973 was a classic blank canvas.  The Margaret River wine region, at least in its modern iteration, was experiencing just its second harvest.  This meant much excitement and trepidation as growers confronted some fundamental questions.  What can be expected in terms of wine style?  When is the right time to pick?  What is the best technique?  Looking back, we can say that luckily for Moss Wood, Bill and Sandra Pannell made some very good choices.  Nevertheless, it’s impossible to overstate how challenging this was at the time, and it would be too easy to see this through the lens of what our region looks like now.

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An important first step was the decision by the Pannells to use small, open tanks, with hand plunging, for red wine fermentations.  Although labour intensive, it is the gentlest technique for the extraction of colour and flavour and we use it to this day.  They also used “small” oak barrels, instead of the larger formats that were more common.  Initially, the smallest available volume was hogsheads, or 300 litres. When they became available, we began using the traditional barrique, or 228 litres, the preferred volume for high quality wine. We still use them today.

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The 1980 vintage was so good that we used it to produce the first Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon Special Reserve.  When the wine was blended for bottling, a small portion was returned to oak for an additional year to see how the wine changed with longer barrel aging.  The great Chateau Lafite Rothschild spends 2 years in oak, so why not Moss Wood?  The 1980 Special Reserve was bottled in September 1982 and released in 1983.  We were delighted with the result and the wine was the winner of the Montgomery Trophy at the Royal Adelaide Wine Show that year. We decided to produce the Special Reserves only in the great years with the highest quality.  The other vintages were 1983, 1987, 1990, 1991 and 1994. Through this exercise we learned the additional barrel age benefited Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon in any vintage, so from 1996 onwards, all have been made in this style and the Special Reserve label was discontinued.

Mother Nature threw a large spanner into the works.  Up to this point, seasonal conditions in the 8 growing seasons had been relatively benign but all that changed in the spring of 1980.  Week after week we had intense winds, rain and hail damage.  The early varieties were smashed, with Chardonnay losing 90% of its crop, but even Cabernet Sauvignon suffered.  Wintry conditions lasted all the way through to December and the vines looked haggard and Chardonnay lost virtually all its leaves.  It’s hard to describe how devastated the Margaret River industry was.  The idea that a whole season’s crop could be lost was very challenging for all of us.

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1982 is perhaps Margaret River’s most famous vintage.  In the Australian wine show system, the most famous prize for red wines is the Jimmy Watson Trophy at the Royal Melbourne Show and, at the 1983 exhibition, Cape Mentelle took out the trophy with their 1982 Cabernet Sauvignon.  The fledgling Margaret River was now holding its own with the nation’s best.

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In 1983, we had a vintage that was completely the opposite and more in line with 1976.  The season was warm and dry and the Cabernet Sauvignon was notable for its ripe red currant fruit notes and, for Moss Wood, firm tannins.  It was a wine we liked from the day we made it, and so did the wine show judges.  At the 1983 Perth Royal Show it was a gold medal and trophy winner.

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With increasing confidence, we tackled 1988.  Mother Nature decided it was time for a warm, low cropping year and we produced a wine in the style that was a mix of 1986 and 1983.  The fruit aromas were the classic red currant of the ’83 and the tannins very much in the mould of ’86.  It was the year when we could apply our new and unapologetic aim, emphasis on ripeness.

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The spring of 1996 was horrendous.  Mother Nature bashed us with heavy winds and hail storms, the last of which came with a thunderstorm that passed straight over the top of Moss Wood on 12^th December.  It was a monster.  Hail stones the size of marbles rained down for what seemed an eternity, but was probably about 2 minutes.  The aftermath was something Keith hadn’t seen before and never wants to see again – smashed leaves, bunches and shoots.

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1998 is the year number 25 and vintage number 26.  After the trauma of 1996/97, we were relieved to enjoy a far more normal spring in 1997/98.  Benign conditions prevailed and the vineyard made steady progress until 9^th March, when a tropical cyclone remnant deposited 50mm of rain on us.  No problem, we thought, it’s early March and we’ve got plenty of time, so we’ll wait for the vines to catch up.  As always, Mother Nature had other ideas.  On 20^th March, she repeated the dose, this time delivering 70mm of rain.  It was still early enough in the season that we could count on more fine weather, but waiting was introducing a new threat – bird damage.

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Things settled down somewhat for the 1998/99 growing season, with mild springtime conditions, followed by a mild summer and a later harvest.  The first Cabernet Sauvignon fruit wasn’t picked until 31^st March, and at that point, ripeness was still a little below what we wanted.  Fortunately, Mother Nature was in a cooperative mood and the first two weeks of April were fine and warm. We were able to wait and re-start, finishing just before significant rain on the 15^th.  Despite being mild, the season produced fruit aromas, quite different from similar years in the past, like 1982 and 1987.  This we put down to the introduction of the Henry trellis and the improved leaf and bunch exposure that results.  The tannin structure was also very well balanced.

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On to 2000, another very good growing season. With no damage and plenty of rain, but no disease, the crop levels were truly bountiful.  Although slightly warmer than 1999, ripening was slowish and harvest was slightly later than average.  In the end, the Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the ripest we made, with bright aromatics of red currant and violets and a wonderfully round and soft palate.  It was very much in the style of 1976 and both vintages are best described using the technical term “yummy”. 2000 was the first Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon to be bottled under screw cap.  We had finally reached the point where the inconsistency associated with the use of corks had become too much.  We simply could not tolerate a closure failure of 10%, sometimes higher, and for no gain in terms of the aging of the wine.

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Now we are at the mighty 2001, a truly majestic year.  The 2000/01 growing season was excellent, with no inclement conditions, so yields were good and moderate to warm temperatures promoted steady and consistent ripening.  We knew the actual temperatures because our weather station was operating and downloading every 15 minutes, which it does to this day.  In the background we’ve built a better understanding of how the seasonal temperature variations drive the small changes in our wine styles.  The key features of 2001 are well noted and used as a benchmark.

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There was always going to be a reality check and that’s precisely what happened in 2002.  Conditions during spring were reasonable but the season was very cool and flowering was two weeks late.  Summer temperatures continued the mild trend and ripening was slow.  By virtue of having a weather station, we now know that Cabernet Sauvignon, in a typical year when the temperature is 20°C, will need 120 days to go from flowering to harvest.  In 2002, it flowered on 13^th December, so a quick calculation suggests if temperatures were normal, it would ripen around 12^th April.  However, its median harvest date is 4^th April, meaning it fell 8 days short of the normal flavour development window.  Why did we pick it early?  The weather had cooled and ripening had slowed but more importantly, with the cold weather had come the rain threat, and in the end, we had no choice but to pick.  Although it has a final alcohol of 14.3%, extra time would have helped improve the fruit flavours, but it was not to be.  Although we were happy enough with the final quality it always seemed a little underripe, with some cedar and leaf aroma notes and medium to full body on the palate.  A very fair effort in a challenging year, and it continues to age well.

There were no such complications in 2003.  It was a good warm spring, with no damage to speak of, followed by a warm to hot summer, delivering a very slightly early vintage.  A year that shared much in common with 1983, and not surprisingly, the resulting wines are similar.  Ripe red currant fruit characters are the order of the day, sitting over quite firm tannin, and despite this, it was ripe and generous enough to be enjoyed as a young wine.  Nevertheless, cellaring expectations are high and while it has now developed some secondary bottle bouquet, it will continue to live on for at least another 20 years.

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Warm remained the trend through calendar year 2007. We experienced a trouble-free spring, with rain at the right times, no wind or hail damage and slightly warmer temperatures, such that flowering was a week earlier than average.  A mild to warm summer followed, with no extreme heat and we anticipated steady ripening and an early vintage.  On or about 1^st February, Mother Nature decided it was time for a change and so we began a beautiful, extended autumn.  Ripening slowed and we had one of our most orderly vintages ever.  The individual blocks all ripen slightly differently, although the variations are not huge, especially in warmer years.  In 2007, all the Cabernet blocks were picked on three consecutive days.  In 2008, the same blocks were picked over three weeks, as we waited patiently and took each one off as it reached full ripeness.  The resulting wine has classic mulberry and red currant fruit aromas, combined with pretty violet scents and is notable for its long and balanced tannin on the palate.  It’s at least a decade away from full maturity.

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Calendar year 2011 remained warm, but not dry.  We received 1039mm of rain for the year, 4% above average.  Flowering was about a week early but missed most of the spring rain and temperatures were mild, all of which contributed to an excellent crop.  Yield was a bountiful 9.2 tonnes per hectare.  Warm weather continued throughout the summer, giving us an average temperature of 21.2°C, making this our warmest year since the weather station was introduced.

Every year we monitor the hardness of the seeds, as they progress from soft and green and white through to brown and crunchy.  We only pick when they’ve reached the latter stage, the idea being this gives the best tannin balance.  In 2012 the passage from soft to hard seemed to take an eternity, certainly longer than usual and hence the higher sugar level that accrued.  If we had been relying simply on that, the harvest date would have been at least a week earlier.

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In 2015, we decided to run an interesting experiment.  It may surprise readers to learn that all the Moss Wood wines are still harvested by hand, which makes us an exception in the Australian wine industry.  The harvest team picks individual bunches, places them in 7kg buckets, and these are collected, emptied into bigger bins, and delivered to the winery. The fruit arrives in near pristine condition. Machine harvesters, on the other hand, are very fast and efficient but they remove the crop by shaking the vines with beaters, causing the berries to fall off, captured and conveyed into on-board receival bins.  These are then offloaded and delivered to the winery.

To give an indication of the efficiency gain, the actual picking of Moss Wood and Ribbon Vale by hand takes approximately 300 hours.  A machine harvester would finish the task in 30 hours.

With the significant savings on offer, it’s fair to ask why we continue with hand picking?

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Reflecting on the rest of the calendar year, after some wetter years, things were drier through 2015, with total rainfall of 959mm, 4% below average.  Spring conditions were not overly challenging but, during Cabernet Sauvignon’s flowering period, temperatures dropped and we had 15 nights when the thermometer fell below 8°C.  We switched back to wet conditions through the summer and during January, typically a dry month. We had 9 days of rain for a total of 115mm.  Fortunately, the timing of the heaviest rain on 19^th January was in our favour, because all the fruit was still firm and green, so there was no splitting or disease.  Regular rain continued through February and March but caused no problems because the vines were accustomed to the damp and coped without further damage.

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Having been blessed with such wonderful conditions for the ’18 vintage, Mother Nature, as is her way, decided we needed a challenge.  The rain tap stayed on and we had yet another above average year, this time receiving 1076mm, 7% above average.   Having said that, spring was initially dry but towards the end of October, rain came again and topped up the soil.  With the rain came mild temperatures and flowering was about a week late.  There were 8 chilly nights, including 30^th November when the mercury dropped to 2.9°C and was very close to a frost.  This impacted the yield, which was down 13% to 6.36 tonnes per hectare.

What followed was a complicated summer, with mild temperatures and regular rain.  The season average temperature was 18.7°C. It took Cabernet Sauvignon 130 days to reach full ripeness on 12^th April, with a very creditable final alcohol of 14.1%.  This is a vintage we compare to years like 2006, 2009, 1989 and 1982.  The key here is that we have now had many years of experience and can make better and more informed judgements about how to manage the vineyard in complicated seasons.  To that end, we are really pleased with how 2019 turned out, better than the years noted above and with genuine, ripe Cabernet Sauvignon fruit aromas and balanced tannins.  We pushed the limit but got there in the end.

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As we muse over the conditions that prevailed during the 2021-22 growing season, it’s fair to say that Mother Nature displayed her full range of talents. The calendar year 2021 was extremely wet and Moss Wood recorded 1440mm of rain, which is 40% above average and for the statistically-minded, very interesting because it’s outside 2 standard deviations from the mean.  Something was certainly different in 2021. It gave us one of our latest vintages, courtesy of mild summer temperatures and notable for the above average summer and autumn rainfall, when we received a succession of tropical depressions moving down the WA coast.  The damp conditions, with solid rain, continued through the year.  When we say solid, that’s exactly what we mean.  For example, in July 2021, it rained on 29 of the 31 days and delivered 370mm.  Needless to say, the vines began the new season in September, with soil moisture in the vineyard at field capacity, always an important thing for our unirrigated vineyards.

In summary, what do we make of the 2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon, the 50^th vintage of this wine? Given the milestone, we’re happy and just a bit relieved we’ve been able to deliver a year with all the classic features of the style.  The warm season ensured consistent ripeness, so the wine displays the vineyard’s typically dark fruit aromas and the palate certainly has the expected key feature of concentrated but balanced tannin, all enhanced by the prettier fragrances which we attribute to the cooler final weeks in March. Very few have been better.

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