As much as 1980 produced a wine of fabulous quality, later in the year, things turned sour, and 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.

The next step was to analyse exactly what had happened and the best Australian viticultural minds were brought into the discussion.  The solutions seem so simple today.  Strong wind and hail both inflict physical injury on the soft green tissues of the new vine shoots.  Secondary infections then commence in those wounds and leaves, shoots and bunches are soon compromised.  The more wind and hail, the greater the risk. Fast forward to today, and we use this hard-earned knowledge to limit but not prevent losses.

The grim reality with hail, in particular, is that when big hailstones hit soft green tissue only bad things happen. There is no opportunity for secondary infections because the entirety of leaves, bunches and shoots are literally wiped out. It happens around one year in five and really badly around once every fifteen years, so we’re always on the alert during spring.

The result of this long, cool, tumultuous season was a late-ripening and tiny crop in 1981, which produced perhaps the most tannic Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon ever.  The wine had good fruit depth and some of the expected early appeal, but it aged really slowly, and we wondered if it would ever soften.

Finally, in 2001, when topping up and re-corking some bottles of the ’81 for a customer, we tried the wine and noted for the first time some bottle development.  We were relieved and proud.