The History and Evolution of Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon: 1982 A Famous but Frost Affected Vintage

We arrive at 1982, 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.

As exciting as the above event was, in the background, Mother Nature’s tough viticultural life lessons had continued.

The spring of 1981 was somewhat cool and damp but largely benign, certainly by comparison with 1980 and we were relieved to avoid the damaging wind and hail.  However, there was another challenge coming down the pipeline – frost.

Up until October 1981, there had been no frosts since planting began in 1967.  Frost risk was not even on the grape growing radar, given Margaret River’s strongly maritime climate.  That all changed on the morning of 18th October, when we had a frost of such magnitude the cold air settled over nearly half the Moss Wood vineyard, wiping out the Old Block Chardonnay, Old Block Cabernet Sauvignon and most of the Semillon.

Our local farming mates were able to recall a similar frost in the mid-1960’s, so they are not especially common.  The topography of our site means cold air can build up on a chilly night and about once every 5 years, it will be cold enough for us to have a frost.  We now own a New Zealand-made frost fan, which has the classic Kiwi catchy name, “Tow and Blow”, which paid for itself on one cold night in 2023.

The 1982 season was long and cool and for Moss Wood, produced a Cabernet Sauvignon with lots of leafy, cedary notes, much loved during that era.  However, consumer preferences were set to change.