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As we muse over the conditions that prevailed during the 2021-22 growing season, it’s fair to say that Mother Nature displayed her full range of talents.
The calendar year 2021 was extremely wet and Moss Wood recorded 1440mm of rain, which is 40% above average and for the statistically minded, very interesting because it’s outside 2 standard deviations from the mean. Something was certainly different in 2021.
It gave us one of our latest vintages, courtesy of mild summer temperatures and notable for the above average summer and autumn rainfall, when we received a succession of tropical depressions moving down the WA coast. The damp conditions, with solid rain, continued through the year. When we say solid, that’s exactly what we mean. For example, in July 2021, it rained on 29 of the 31 days and delivered 370mm. Needless to say, the vines began the new season in September, with soil moisture in the vineyard at field capacity, always an important thing for our unirrigated vineyards.
Regular rainfall continued through to the end of October, after which things began to ease. The Cabernet varieties began flowering on 11th November and over the next 4 weeks it rained on only 5 days delivering a total of 15mm. At the same time, there were only 4 days when the temperature dropped below the critical 8°C, with a coldest day of 5.7°C on 15th December.
Taken at face value, these benign conditions suggested we should have had reasonable crops, but this wasn’t the case. Cabernet Sauvignon was down 20%, at 5.82t/ha and Cabernet Franc was down 22%, to 4.5t/ha. As usual, Petit Verdot was its usual petulant self and produced a generous 2.33t/ha, down a whopping 55%. Even slightly disruptive conditions send this variety into a temper tantrum, and it pays us back with pitiful yields.
An explanation for the above may lie with Mother Nature’s change of heart. With the arrival of Christmas, she decided to flick the switch to hot. On Christmas Day, we enjoyed our turkey lunch with the air conditioner on and 37.6°C outside. A warm night followed, something we don’t often get in Wilyabrup, with a minimum temperature of 20°C and that set the scene for a warm Boxing Day. While we again sat in the air conditioning, this time watching the Test Cricket from Melbourne, the temperature peaked at 2.45pm at 41.2°C, our warmest day since 25th February 1985. Overnight, things cooled to a balmy 24°C and we were starting to wonder when the heat would ease. This it fortunately did, with a maximum temperature that day of 38.6°C and from then on things began to return to normal. This continued until mid-January, when temperatures rose again, this time delivering a maximum of 40.1°C on the 19th. By and large, the remainder of January and February were warm but not too hot. The arrival of March brought autumnal temperatures and ripening began to slow.
Steak, mushrooms and blue cheese.
Bright condition, deep ruby with purple hues. Bright and lifted aromatics with intense dark fruits of mulberry, blackberry, blueberry and plum. These fruit notes then give way to tobacco leave, cigar box, sage and bay leaf. The oak is subtle and integrated with notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon and cedar.
The palate is dense and rich in all of the Cabernet fruit spectrum- blackberry, blueberry, red currants and black cherry. Fresh acidity and violets sit in behind this as well as background notes of nutmeg, clove and earth. Tannins are dense, mouth coating and velvet-like with subtle, dusty oak notes on the finish.
