Moss Wood 2001 Cabernet Sauvignon
| Wine Facts | |
|---|---|
| Median Harvest Date | 18th March, 2001 |
| Harvest Ripeness | 13.40° Be |
| Yield | 9.50 t/ha |
| Bottled | 05th August, 2003 |
| Released | 30th June, 2004 |
| Alcohol | 14.50% |
| Vintage Rating | 10/10 |
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Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Tyson Stelzer, Top 250 Wines of 2024
A singularity of black- and redcurrant and cassis defines a monumental Moss Wood of stellar definition and endurance, yet somehow at the same time alluringly silky, slippery and polished to the nth degree. Super-fine tannins unite top shelf fruit with classy oak structure, impeccably resolved, carrying a finish of effortless…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Medium-deep and very bright red with a strong tinge of purple, but it’s not a very deep colour for cabernet. The bouquet is fresh and red fruit driven with mulberry, violet aromas, mixed dried herbs and fragrant spices. The wine is medium-full bodied, not big but supremely elegant and fine-boned….
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cassandra Charlick, Wine Pilot
95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot, with a detailed French oak regime. I can resist everything but temptation, or so said Mr Wilde. Place a glass of this in front of you and resistance is futile. Juicy and jewel like, the nose leaps with dusty rose, raspberry…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cassandra Charlick, Decanter
Vibrantly perfumed, with rose petal jam and bright red primary fruit fringed with dried eucalypt, sage, sea spray, clove, delicate spices and lightly toasted oak. Impressive fruit weight. Hums with energy. Tannins are ripe, firm, fine, almost silky. Acid is balanced and lifted. Lacks classic Margaret River Cabernet characters, but…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Jane Faulkner – James Halliday, The Wine Companion
There’s as much a Moss Wood DNA thumbprint as a regional one here. This shows off violets, cedary/toasty oak (thankfully not too much), chocolate and a slight ironstone character. Fuller bodied yet the palate is smooth and contained with fine-grained, almost silky tannins, plus dabs of sweet mulberries and blackberries…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Sam Kim, Wine Orbit
A wine of stunning presence, the engaging bouquet shows dark berry, thyme, star anise, rich floral and cedar characters. The palate is both concentrated and seamless with outstanding weight and depth, wonderfully framed by finely infused chalky tannins. This is symphonic with grace and style, promising to evolve magnificently. At…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
The Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon is always one of Margaret River’s best and this latest release is no exception. From the sub-region of Wilyabrup, the blend is 95% Cabernet, 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot. Not the easiest vintage in the region, the team overcame any and all obstacles….
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Angus Hughson, Vinous.com
This engaging 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon appeals with its subtlety rather than raw power. Dried herbs, clay and blackcurrant are finely intertwined with French oak. Firm and mid-weight with a strong core, the Wilyabrup gravels emerge in flavor and texture to drive a strong, tension-filled finish. There’s a lovely overall flow…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Paul Edwards, The West Australian
High expectations accompany iconic labels such as Moss Wood, especially following on from the powerful 2020. This elegantly styled 21 vintage steps up and delivers, even in its youth. This is a wine built for cellaring and, as such, it was day two when the full gamut of flavours and…
Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Bob Campbell, The Real Review
Elegant red that is a benchmark for the variety with red rose petal, cassis, blackberry, cedar wood, cacao nibs flavours and a backbone of spicy French oak that adds extra complexity. Accessible but it’s almost a shame to drink it before 2030. May, 2024
Vintage Notes
It's hard to imagine two more different Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignons than the 2000 and the 2001. The former, the most approachable of them all - supple, almost lush, deep cassis and mulberry flavours with ripe, substantial yet almost gentle tannins. Keith describes it as a "lake of flavour" while "yummy" is another descriptor that springs readily to mind. On the other hand, the 2001 is very much in the mould of the classic years of the greatest Moss Wood's: 1975, 1976, 1980, 1990, 1991, 1995, 1996 and 1999.
One of the best vintages in Margaret River was not without its problems. Early flowering meant that Moss Wood was subjected to the earliest bird damage ever and harvest began about 10 days ahead of schedule. The summer was mild and drier than usual and it proved to be a copybook growing season. There was a hot spell in February - five consecutive days in the high 30's - which sent the grape sugars up. Light rains in the second week of March slowed down ripening to the benefit of the cabernet. Keith was reminded of 1991: there were no highlights during vintage and he had no great expectations at harvest, but once the wine was in the winery it looked very good indeed.
Production Notes
The production of the wine was routine for the team at Moss Wood. For the second vintage, the flash Delta E2 was used to destem the berries without crushing the grapes - to keep tannin extraction to a minimum. After the end of a two year experiment with wild yeast, fermentation was activated by pure yeast culture and took place at the usual warm temperatures - up to 32° Celcius. Each fermentation vat was hand plunged four times a day and the wine was left on skins for between 10 to 14 days after fermentation. As usual, the decision about how long to leave it on skins was made by tasting the wine daily.
After that, it was pressed and placed into barrel (50% new French oak, 50% two year old) for two years with all the pressings included in the finished wine. At the beginning of July 2003, it was racked into tank for assemblage and filtered (but not fined) before being bottled in August 2003 and then rested for a year before release.
Last year, Moss Wood bottled 200 cases of the 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon under screwcap to ensure that the wine is not affected by cork taint. In the newsletter, we commented that we expected that 1500 cases (or half the production) would be under screwcap with the 2001. In fact, 70% of that vintage has been sealed under the Stelvin closure.
The blend for the 2001 Moss Wood Cabernet was cabernet sauvignon (93%), cabernet franc (3%) and petit verdot (4%), which has been standard since 1997. There are such small amounts of cabernet franc and petit verdot at Moss Wood that, if good enough (and they invariably are), go into the wine as they add some pleasing complexity.
Production Manager Ian Bell, is always pushing to make a Cheval Blanc lookalike by putting aside some cabernet franc and the tiny fraction of merlot (0.3%), bunging it into new oak and selling it at an outrageous price. We have, thus far, resisted this temptation.
Tasting Notes
The 2001 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon is arguably the greatest wine yet released from the vineyard. It has a fragrant nose of mulberries, blackberries and violets with a touch of earth and some spicy, cedary notes while the palate is deep, densely flavoured with ripe cassis and mulberry, complexed by chocolate and coffee bean characters. This is a profound, powerful red, opulent and concentrated with impressive weight showing fine, ripe tannins on a long, lingering finish. The oak and densely packed fruit are seamlessly integrated.
Cellaring:
This wine is built for the long haul and, if well cellared, will improve over the next ten years and remain at its peak long after that.