Late last year, Australian wine makers Keith and Clare Mugford visited Macau to present a Master Class on their Moss Wood wines at The Four Seasons.
Established in the Margaret River region of Western Australia in 1969, Moss Wood was purchased by the couple in 1984 and is considered to be one of the best vineyard sites in Australia. Together they have created a stable of wines that are distinguished by their consistency and their ability to age.
Over lunch, we sample just a couple of wines from their extensive range, and discuss their characteristics and recent trends in the industry.
“We’ve had eight vintages in a row of essentially good conditions,” notes Keith. “Yields have fluctuated a bit, but in terms of the conditions for ripening the grapes, 2007 through to 2014 have all been of a high quality”.
“2012 was a very good year for Cabernet in particular, with good ripeness and the wines retaining bright fruit notes, so the whites were good too. 2011 was a slightly warmer, rounder year, and 2013 and 2014 were a bit more delicate, so there’s been variations on a theme, but essentially it’s been an unprecedented run. So we’ll have to see if 2015 continues the trend,” he adds.
The red that we sample is Moss Wood’s 2012 Amy’s, a Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot.
“This is a Cabernet blend that we make specifcally for new customers of our brand. We also make two expensive, long-term cellering Cabernet wines, but with this one we have tried to make a wine that is enjoyable for its good fruit characters and early softness and drinkability. Affordable but still of a high Moss Wood standard,” explains Keith.
The blend is basically half Cabernet Sauvignon and an equal share of the other three blending varieties to ensure consistency, no matter what sort of vintage is had.
“In the warmer years, if the wines need a boost to their freshness and tannin, Petit Verdot ensures the wine always gets bright, dark fruit notes, a bit of musky perfume, and good acid and tannin.
Alternatively, in the cooler years, the other two varieties always give black fruit depth, good palate and ripe tannins.”
Our white wine for lunch is a Moss Wood Semillon 2013, a surprisingly complex and fresh wine, with a palate of lifted acidity, rich texture and a touch of tannin for good cellaring.
“Semillon is part of the original Bordeaux varieties introduced to the region so is quite common, but in Australia it’s not a particularly fashionable variety. For us though it has done quite well in various places across the globe and personally we really like it,” says Clare.
“Stylistically, this is very typical of the wines we make,” adds Keith. “The fruit characters are a bit green apple, a bit lemon, and slightly lanolin character, full bodied with high acidity on the palate too.”
Interestingly, the Mugfords assure that their Semillon is well worth holding on to for up to 15, even 20 years, to really mature and develop.
“It’s attractive enough to drink young, but also a very good long term cellaring prospect. Over 15 to 20 years it develops complexity and the overall aroma develops with more toasty buttery flavours and the palate softens too with a bit more sweetness,” says Keith.
“It’s quite amazing how people eulogise about old Semillon,” adds Clare. “I’ve had people who have tried our old Semillon and they are amazed at how complex and toasted it has become”.
Moss Wood Wines are available in Macau from Summergate Fine Wines
