2017 Moorilla Muse Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon

Founded in 1958 by Claudio Alcorso (making it Tasmania’s second-oldest winery), Moorilla could rest on its laurels as a stately old figure of the industry. It doesn’t. Instead—under the stewardship of Canadian winemaker Conor van der Reest—it continues to produce bold, exciting, innovative wines. Moorilla’s evolution began with Tasmanian gambler David Walsh’s purchase of Moorilla in 1995 and continued with his hiring of van der Reest in 2007. Conor redefined Moorilla, championing the terroir of its vineyards and starting an ambitious cellaring program. He was also instrumental in the designing of Moorilla’s state-of-the-art new winery on the Moorilla peninsula, on the same site that would soon hold David’s world-famous Museum of Old and New Art (Mona). Using grapes from its two geographically-distinct vineyards (Moorilla in the south, St Matthias in the north), Moorilla creates three very different wine series: Cloth Label, Muse, and Praxis. These series are the culmination of Moorilla’s fifty-year winemaking journey, with brazen, new-world experimentation (Praxis), complex Tasmanian expressions of classic European winemaking techniques (Muse), and luxurious, artisanal single-estate blends (Cloth Label) showcasing the breadth and quality of our vineyards.