2023 Moss Wood Margaret River Semillon

Pale to medium straw hue, with green tints; bright condition. Bright, lifted aromas of ripe figs, some lemon and granny smith apple notes, with a touch of lanolin and mushroom in the background. The initial impression is one of generous, long fruit flavours, consisting on figs, apple and preserved lemon. There is good weight and length, with fresh acidity and some soft tannins on the finish.

Why was it so good?  Where do we begin?  Let’s look at the rainfall.  It could be the 10% above average rainfall of 1114mm we received during calendar year 2022, ensuring plenty of soil moisture for the vines.  Or it might be that the rain eased off when we needed it to.  During flowering, we received only 8 days and 21mm of rain, while only 19mm fell during January, February and March, so there was no threat of dilution or disease.

Or, perhaps it was the temperatures?  During flowering there were only 8 days when it dropped below 8°C and only for a total of 25 hours, so just what we need.  Yet, through the summer, the temperatures were consistently warm but not hot, with our hottest day being 37.9°C.  All the vines revelled in these conditions and the semillon was no exception.  It received 1018 hours in the preferred temperature range of 18-28°C and a total of 49 hours above 33°, more than enough to ensure easy progress to full flavour ripeness.  The average temperature across the season was a very pleasant 20.1°.

So, what does all this mean?  It’s quite simple, really – we had a classic Margaret River summer and a classic year resulted.  The 2023 combined good crops and high quality and we suspect it’s one of the great “all round” vintages, when all our varieties produce classic wines, which will get very special mention in the future and sit comfortably with its famous siblings like 2018, 2014, 2005, 2001, 1995, 1994, 1985, 1980 and possibly even the revered 1975.

When we have years like this, the outcomes can seem quite boring and we often say that anyone could have made wine in this sort of a year.  Here are the key facts for semillon.  The crop level was a very respectable, for a 50 year old, dry-farmed vineyard, of 8.58 tonnes per hectare, although still down 11%.  Hand harvesting was done on 16th March, 5 days later than average and the ripeness was 13.5° Baume, a little above the normal 12.8°.

The fruit was delivered to the winery where it was sorted and then whole-bunch pressed.  The must was clarified and fermented in stainless steel.  We make this point because Moss Wood Semillon is the only wine we make that does not spend time in oak.  It was seeded with multiple yeast strains for primary fermentation and once this was completed, the wine was racked and adjusted with SO2 and fining trials were carried out.  None improved the tannin balance so the wine is unfined.  It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 3rd July.