Earlier this week I attended the Moss Wood tasting at Wines of WA Education centre organised by Full Bottle. Since September last year Full Bottle has partnered with Wines of Western Australia which is only a good move going forward in the world of wine education!

Keith and Claire Mugford were almost at the end of their 4 week tasting tour of Australia and it was wonderful to be able to go through the wines with them this week while they explained the vintage and the winemaking style for each. Tasting a wine in isolation, without knowing how it was made, how long it was aged for in barrel, if the wines underwent malolactic fermentation and so on makes it hard to appreciate and undersatand the wine. Which is why if you can, go to tastings where the winemaker is available to describe in more about the viticulture and vinification.

As soon as Keith started talking about the wines at Moss Wood he had a captive audience. He began by telling us the story of Moss Wood and how he came to be there. Having recently graduated from RoseworthyAgticultural College, Keith joined Moss Wood for the 1974 vintage. At that time it was owned and run by the Pannell family who now own Picardy in Pemberton. Then in 1986 the Pannells sold Moss Wood to Keith and Claire and they continue to make these infamous wines in WA.

These wines that we tried tasted were wonderful now and with the comparison tastings we had of the different vintages, I would love to try these again in the coming years, say every 1,2,3,4,5-10 years. If only I could spend a bit more money on wine and less on the mortgage, well then I would!