In 1979 Keith Mugford was appointed winemaker at the Moss Wood Winery by the then owners, Bill and Sandra Pannell. He arrived fresh from graduating with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Viticulture & Oenology from Roseworthy College, having done vintages at Tullochs and Orlando.
"I was born in Adelaide in 1958. Arguably one of the worst vintages ever, all around the world, so what does one buy to celebrate it? In the end, Vintage Port is about the only reliable thing! In 1960 my father moved to McLaren Vale to join the medical practice and so I grew up and went to school there", recalls Keith.
"My association with the wine industry is something along these lines. At McLaren Vale Primary School, the majority of the children had parents who worked in the industry, at all levels. It was something quite normal for people in the region to look forward to a career in wine or vines. I didn’t have a great interest until after I finished school and the attraction was that people, who were family friends and worked with vines or wine, seemed to lead very interesting lives. They were quite cosmopolitan and many of them traveled widely and it all seemed pretty exciting to me!"
In 1984 Keith married Clare and they leased the Moss Wood vineyard and winery, They became managing partners of the then 20 acre vineyard (on 80 acres of land) and small winery producing 3,000 cases of wine annually. During this year the sale of the property was negotiated and in July 1985 the Mugfords assumed full ownership.
"I was born in Melbourne in 1960 and moved to Perth with my parents and my much older siblings, born 1944, ‘46 and ‘47, who were '10 pound Poms' in 1963. The family had moved to Australia for a better life and found one. My first interest post school was science and agriculture and I briefly flirted with a science degree, but paid employment beckoned and I entered the work force with the New South Wales bank, as it was, for the next two years, which lead me to believe I preferred working with my own finances, to those of other people. Keen to rekindle my science studies again, I completed a Hospital based Diploma in Nursing at the Western Australian School of Nursing and nursed, at Royal Perth, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie regional hospitals, which I enjoyed very much. In 1984 Keith and I decided to marry and carry on his work at Moss Wood, which continues to be all consuming.
We have owned and run Moss Wood Winery and Vineyard, since 1985, having leased and become managing partners of it in 1984. In 2002 I completed a Graduate Diploma in Wine Business, from Adelaide University."
The text below is taken from an article by Anna Caidan, Le sommelier, titled 'Moss Wood Portrait of Two Winemakers'
Anna Caidan meets Clare and Keith Mugford, joint winemakers and proprietors of Moss Wood in Margaret Valley Western Australia
What can you tell me about the history of Moss Wood?
Clare: 'Moss Wood came about because it was of interest to Bill and Sandra Pannell, after a paper, written by a Dr John Gladstones, who was an agronomist at the University of Western Australia about the consistency of the climate in the Margaret River region. So, his paper informed the first few people who planted in Margaret River. Moss Wood was planted in 1969, making it the second commercial vineyard in the area. It was the first winery to plant Cabernet Sauvignon in the region. By 1979, the Pannells felt that they needed a qualified winemaker, so they brought in Keith who had just graduated from Roseworthy College in South Australia, which is famous for striving winemakers and viticulturists. Bill Hardy, who was famous in wine and viticulture, suggested hiring Keith to take over as winemaker. So, they did! They interviewed Keith in Adelaide and he thought it would be a good idea to make wine in Margaret River because he could go surfing and make interesting wine! When Keith and I met, the Pannells had always talked about a partnership with Keith, as the Pannells had four young children. By that time Keith and I were thinking of getting married, and wondering what we were going to do next, Keith approached the Pannells and agreed to lease the vineyard. They went off on holiday, and after six months they came back and asked us if we would like to buy it. As we were only 24 and 26, we thought it was going to be difficult. However, they came up with a good plan, so in 1985 we bought the vineyard and we have added to plantings since; it has been an interesting learning curve for me, it was a complete career change, but we found it challenging and interesting too!'
Keith: 'We bought Moss Wood in 1985, and then by the end of the 1990s we had four children. If the four of them wanted to be involved in the business, then Moss Wood wouldn’t have been big enough to accommodate all their interest. And so we looked around, and in the end we had a discussion with John James who had established Ribbon Vale Vineyard. It was a little bit younger than Moss Wood, 1977 was its first planting, but Ribbon Vale was very similar to Moss Wood with similar vines and similar soils, slightly different plantings and the varieties were slightly different. Moss Wood was growing Semillon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Ribbon Vale was growing Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. So, John was happy, and in 2000 we bought Ribbon Vale, so in total, we now have around 23 hectares between us.'
What is your favourite step in the winemaking process?
Clare: ‘The thing that I find most interesting is the transition from juice to wine. So, pressing for red wines, and end of fermentation for white wines, because it’s the first time you see the finished wines. Tasting those grapes on the vine and then to smell and taste them as finished wine still as an infant for me is the most interesting.'
Keith: 'The most fun and interesting part for me is picking day. So, when we pick and process the grapes, the combination of standing in the vineyard and monitoring the grapes, and then going ahead and picking them, where we have everybody involved, is really exciting!'
What is the secret to making Moss Wood wines?
Clare: 'Site. A very special site, and forty years of knowledge of growing the vines on that site and making the wines from it.'
Keith: 'I agree with that. The location is very important. Moss Wood has its own individuality because its topography is unique and we're in a good area in Margaret River. We have a good vineyard with good soils and then if you look after that, then the grapes can carefully grow, and you take them to the winery and take care of them there. But the most important part is the vineyard itself; that’s where the quality starts.'
What is your best memory since working at Moss Wood?
Keith: 'There are a lot of memories, most of them good!'
Clare: 'I would agree, we have lots of great memories! My most treasured memory of working in the wine industry is sitting at Len Evan’s lunch table. He had a Monday lunch group, and we were privileged enough to sit at his lunch table in 1987, and he shared with us a bottle of 1919 La Tâche! 1919 was my mother’s birth year, so that was the thrill of my life, in wine! There were a few other thrills around that time, but that occasion was one of the biggest!'
… and the most challenging?
Keith: 'When there was damage to the vineyard. We had a terrible hailstorm in 1996 which decimated the 1997 crop. So, seeing that and trying to recover from it was probably one of the worst things. Just standing there watching this huge hailstorm come past and there was nothing we could do, just watch, bashing the vines pretty badly and when it’s over, going to see what’s left, see if there’s anything you can do, but I would definitely say that was one of the most challenging.'
What is the story behind the labels?
Keith: 'The original Moss Wood label, which was designed in 1973 when the ownership was still under Bill and Sandra Pannell, was all about simplicity. All it had on it was who made the wines, what the vintage was, where the vineyard was located, and that was basically it. You can go down different routes with wine labels, you can choose colourful designs with pictures or you can have something relatively plain that is simple and easy to read, which is what we went for. Our favourite Bordeaux wine at the time was Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, and Pichon is the classic simple printed label with gold foil, with no doubt about who made it or where its from, so the original Moss Wood label was inspired by Pichon Lalande! Family crest, Cabernet Sauvignon 1973 and it was that simple, and that is where the label began, and it’s similar to where it is now, but we’ve had to change it quite extensively over the years because of the regulatory environment. Back in 1973 Moss Wood only sold in Australia and then it was so straightforward! It was easier to get the legally required items on the labels. Now in 2018, Moss Wood is sold all around the world and it has to comply with the regulatory environments. Moss Wood is an English name. There is a farm in Cheshire in England. Bill Pannel’s parents were regular visitors to the UK and it was a friend of his who introduced them to Moss Wood in Cheshire. Bill and Sandra liked the name so much, they wrote to the people in Cheshire to ask them if they could use the name for their vineyard. So, Moss Wood became an Australian name as well! It’s a name that people seem to like! They like the name and they like the wine, and we put that down to its simplicity, it’s easy to say, easy to remember, and Moss Wood has a pretty connotation with it, if you say it out loud, you think of trees and undergrowth, which is actually what it’s like!'
When is the best time to drink your wines?
Clare: 'At the stage you most like wines to be! At the developmental stage, if you prefer primary fruit aromas and flavours then drink the wine young. But if you don’t, which not everybody does, then give 5, 10, 20 years! The Moss Wood cabernet has the history that can give us the confidence to say that you can give it 40 years before drinking it! Especially these days, because we seal all our wines with screw-caps, and we have the confidence that the wine’s seal is not going to fail unless it has been knocked and the seal has been broken. It won’t taint and it has been sealed with enough oxidative elements to allow the wines to age.'
