Miles Mossop Wines

My winemaking philosophy is simple: exceptional vineyards, great timing and gentle guidance in the cellar should lead to expressive wines that I enjoy drinking.

It has been more than 22 years since I started making wines under my own label, and it has been an incredible journey. There have been exciting challenges, great opportunities, difficult vintages, vineyards that have come and gone and wines that have guided the direction of Miles Mossop Wines over time.

The aim has always stayed the same - to make wines with a clear sense of where they come from, wines that I believe in and wines I want to open and drink myself.

As a winemaker, you spend a lot of time tasting other people’s wines and over analysing your own. It’s during these winter months and after harvest that I get to reach for some of my wines and enjoy them as one should.

Last weekend, the Sam 2022 was in my glass and I hope it’s in yours some time this winter.

I’ve been finishing up and finalising the red blends earlier this week - working through the different barrels, blocks and components to decide what belongs where.

Earlier in the day, I finalised the best components and blocks for Sam and Max, before moving onto the Chapters Stellenbosch Cabernet Sauvignon. They are very different wines, so it’s not about choosing the best barrels in isolation but getting an understanding where each component belongs.

That’s the part of blending you aim to get right. You’re trying to make the wine feel complete, balanced and true to what it should be. These won’t be available for a while - but I enjoy sharing some updates from the cellar.

At least I’m better at finding balance in my wines...

Haha a little fun behind the scenes - not everything comes right the first time you try it. Must say some of the stuff that happens behind the scenes can give a good laugh.

Enjoy the weekend everyone - cheers 🍷

Cabernet Sauvignon from Stellenbosch is something I have a lot of respect for. When you work with the right sites and pick at the right time, you get structure, depth and fruit concentration without having to force anything in the cellar.

The Chapters Cabernet Sauvignon 2022 comes from Stellenbosch fruit and was made with patience in mind. Cabernet needs time to settle into itself. The tannins, oak and fruit all need space to come together, which is why decanting can make such a difference when opening a bottle young.

It’s a wine built for the long run, but it’s also very rewarding to check in on it now. I hope you enjoy it now, or in a couple of years when it’s time to take it out of the cellar.

Thanks to for sharing this. Always great to see where the wines end up and even better when they find their way into someone’s working day.

The Introduction Chenin Blanc is made to be approachable but still with obvious vineyard character behind it. It comes from fruit I know well, handled with the same care as the rest of the range just with a slightly more immediate expression in mind.

A glass of Chenin next to a design screen seems like a pretty decent way to get through the day, cheers.

A big thank you to the team at for having me at the Wine Club earlier this month.

It’s always worthwhile to spend time with people who are genuinely interested in the wines, not just what’s in the glass, but where it comes from and why certain decisions were made along the way. These conversations matter. They remind you that the work in the vineyard and cellar only becomes complete once the bottle is opened and shared.

Thank you to everyone who joined, asked questions and spent the time with us.

There’s always a fair amount left on the table after a tasting. Corks, glasses, a few notes a few stains and hopefully a clearer sense of where each wine sits in the range - that’s always the goal at the end of the day when I attend these tastings, is to get you to see what the different ranges are about and hopefully have you leave with a better understanding of my philosophy and my wines.

For me personally, tastings are useful because they take the wines out of the cellar and put them in front of people. You get to see how they’re opening up, how people respond to them and which detai ls come through once the wine has had a bit of air and conversation around it. There’s great value in that.

The Chapters Swartland Cinsault comes off bush vines planted in 1998 on decomposed granite soils.

It’s hand-harvested, with about 50% whole bunch and the rest destemmed, then fermented naturally. The wine spends 28 days on skins before pressing, and then 10 months in a concrete egg.

We’re in that in-between weather at the moment - sun’s out, but it’s not properly warm. This is usually where I reach for Cinsault. Lighter structure, but still enough grip to carry through a cooler day.

There’s still some 2023 available if you’re thinking ahead to winter.

The weather’s turned so it’s time to start reaching for the Cape Vintage again.

There isn’t that much of it. It takes time and a fair bit of effort, but my dad always enjoyed his Port, so this Cape Vintage naturally had to have a place in the range.

Grapes are picked nice and ripe, then into cold storage overnight. From there it’s destemmed, into small 700L bins, and I give it a two-day cold soak with regular working before fermentation starts on its own. During ferment it’s punch-downs as needed. Fortification happens on the skins, then it sits overnight before pressing into an old 500L French oak barrel.

It stays there for about 20 months. No fining, no filtration. Bottled December 2022.

I hope you get to enjoy a bottle this winter 🍷