Autrement 2025 Pinot Noir
| Wine Facts | |
|---|---|
| Median Harvest Date | 25th February, 2025 |
| Mean Harvest Ripeness | 13.1° Be |
| Bottled | 12th January, 2026 |
| Released | 18th September, 2026 |
| Alcohol | 13.7 % |
Wine Facts
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Median Harvest Date
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Harvest Ripeness
°Be
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Yield
t/ha
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Weather Data
Growing season Ave Temperature - ⁰C
Number of hours accrued between 18° and 28⁰C – hours
Number of hours above 33⁰C – hours
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Days Elapsed between Flowering and Harvest
days
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Bottled
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Released
-
Alcohol
14.00%
Moss Wood 2025 Autrement Pinot Noir – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Pinot Noir from Karridale. 2025 was a very good vintage for Margaret River. I served this to my partner and asked what it might be. “Is it Grenache or maybe Nebbiolo? It’s not Pinot Noir is it?” And there you have an astute summary of the wine. Cherry, strawberry, orange…
Moss Wood 2025 Autrement Pinot Noir – Ray Jordan
So this is a wine that’s been sourced from further south at Karridale, a region that is far cooler than the Wilyabrup sub-region of Moss Wood. Outremont is French for “another way”, and that explains Moss Wood’s sourcing of pinot from another region. There’s a beautiful perfumed red fruit aroma,…
Moss Wood 2025 Autrement Pinot Noir – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
Every year, one hears the same question. Why are they bothering with Pinot Noir in Margaret River? The answer is that they have customers who love the wine and buy it every year. Also, one suspects, that they enjoy making it (they have been doing so since 1977, so if…
The 2025 vintage marks the second release of Moss Wood Autrement Pinot Noir. “Autrement” is the French word for “in another way” - a fitting name for our exploration of Pinot Noir from a different perspective, in the cooler locality of Karridale.
Pinot Noir has been part of the Moss Wood story since our first plantings in Wilyabrup in 1973. Over the years, our fascination with the variety has occasionally taken us further afield, including projects in Pemberton and the Mornington Peninsula. In late 2023, the opportunity arose to work with high-quality Pinot Noir from Karridale, approximately 60 kilometres south of Moss Wood. The vineyard's distinctly different climate, three Pinot Noir clones and, most importantly, the flavour of the fruit encouraged us to explore the variety once again outside our home vineyard.
The inaugural 2024 Autrement confirmed our enthusiasm for the site and we were very pleased to return for a second vintage in 2025.
Vineyard
Although both Wilyabrup and Karridale fall within the Margaret River GI, the climatic differences between the two sites are significant. Karridale's more southerly location and proximity to the Southern Ocean bring cooler daytime temperatures and lower seasonal heat accumulation, slowing the progression through budburst, flowering, veraison and ripening. This generally results in a later harvest and helps preserve natural acidity while allowing flavour and tannin development to progress steadily.
The vineyard contains three Pinot Noir clones, each bringing something different to the final wine. D4V2, the “droopy” clone also planted at Moss Wood, contributes bright aromatics and red fruits such as strawberry and cherry. The 2325 clone provides firmer tannin and savoury characters, while D2V6 contributes deeper colour and darker fruit notes. The vines are trained on a Geneva Double Curtain trellis, providing good sunlight exposure to the fruit zone and encouraging even ripening.
Vintage Notes
The 2025 season provided an interesting contrast to the inaugural 2024 vintage and allowed us to see the Karridale vineyard under more typical conditions. The unusually warm 2023–24 season accelerated development considerably, bringing harvest forward by around two to three weeks and resulting in the Pinot Noir being picked on 2nd February at 13.4° Bé.
Conditions in 2025 were more moderate and ripening progressed at a considerably steadier pace. Regional heat accumulation was around 11% lower than the previous season, while good winter rainfall provided healthy soil moisture reserves going into the growing season. Although there were some warm days through summer, there was no repeat of the sustained warmth that had driven the early 2024 harvest.
The difference was clearly reflected in the vineyard. Median harvest in 2025 was 25th February, 23 days later than the previous year, at a mean ripeness of 13.1° Bé. This additional time on the vine, without a corresponding increase in sugar, allowed flavour and phenolic development to progress gradually and provided a much clearer expression of the Karridale site.
production notes
All fruit was harvested by hand and transported to Moss Wood, where it was carefully hand sorted before processing. As with the inaugural vintage, whole bunches remained an important component of the winemaking, although in 2025 we adjusted the proportion according to clone.
D4V2 and D2V6 were fermented with 30% whole bunches, while the 2325 component was reduced to 20%. Having worked with the vineyard for a second season, we felt this clone naturally carried sufficient tannin and savoury character and therefore required less of the additional structure contributed by whole-bunch fermentation.
The must was chilled to 8°C and held for a 48-hour cold soak before being allowed to warm naturally. Fermentation began spontaneously with wild yeast and continued this way for six days. Once the developing wine had reached more than 3% alcohol, the ferments were inoculated with cultured Saccharomyces cerevisiae to ensure a reliable completion.
During fermentation, the tanks were hand plunged three times per day, with temperatures kept below 30°C. After 14 days on skins, each batch was pressed separately and the individual components were transferred to 228-litre French oak barriques.
The wine spent nine months in barrel, 13% of the barrels being new. The final blend remained unfined and was cross-flow and membrane filtered before bottling on 12th January 2026.
TASTING NOTES
Colour and condition:
Bright crimson red; clear and vibrant condition.
Nose:
Lifted and fragrant, with bright red fruit aromas of cherry and strawberry at the forefront, accompanied by raspberry and subtle floral notes. The savoury characters seen in the inaugural vintage remain, with gentle hints of dried herbs, mushroom and forest floor, although these sit more quietly in the background. Subtle spice and oak complexity complete the nose.
Palate:
The palate shows lovely freshness and balance, with cherry, strawberry and redcurrant flavours carrying from the front through the mid-palate. Compared with the denser 2024 vintage, the fruit profile is slightly lighter and more delicate, while the tannins are finer and less assertive. Savoury notes of dried herbs and mushroom provide complexity without dominating the bright red fruit. Fresh acidity and supple tannins give the wine a nicely balanced structure and carry it through to a long, elegant finish.
CELLARING
The 2025 Autrement Pinot Noir is attractive in its youth, with bright red fruit, fine tannins and excellent balance giving the wine immediate appeal. At the same time, its fresh acidity and well-proportioned structure should allow it to develop gracefully in bottle.
Over the next five years we expect the primary cherry and strawberry characters to gradually give way to more complex savoury notes. Between seven and ten years of age, the wine should show the earthy, mushroom and forest floor characters typical of mature Pinot Noir while retaining the freshness and elegance that distinguish the 2025 vintage.