Reviews Archives - Moss Wood

Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – The Cellar Post

Beautiful definition and purity on the nose that shows fresh cassis, blackberries, and black plum, with cedar, pencil shavings, subtle vanilla and mocha nuances. Medium-full, superb freshness and concentration on the palate, dark fruit with a vibrant streak of purple, excellent oak spice, clove and tobacco, firm tannins and vibrant acidity. Structurally this is excellent. Powerful and elegant. A wine that’s begging for decade in the cellar before rewarding in spades over the following 20+. Brilliant.

97 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Gary Walsh, Wine Front

94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. Here we have a classic Moss Wood Cabernet, and maybe, though don’t mind me, it puts me in mind of the 2001 for richness and presence.

It’s a powerhouse Cabernet and classic Moss Wood in terms of intensity and regal carriage. Black fruit, dried cranberry, cedar, nutmeg, dried flower perfume, tobacco, and damp earth. It sweeps through the palate with grilled nuts, toast, fresh blackberry, a whole lot of sweet grainy tannin and black tea perfume, acidity is balanced and present, and the finish crackles, thunders and goes very long. Quite a wine. Outstanding.

96 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Pinot Noir – Huon Hooke, The Real Review

Moss Wood Pinot Noir bottle image with atmospheric background.

Margaret River isn’t one of the great pinot noir regions, consequently there are very few made there. This is the best Moss Wood pinot noir I’ve tasted for many years.

Youthful red-purple colour, bright and deep. There are cherry, ginger and iodine/peat aromas which are bright and fresh and fruit driven, while the palate is excitingly intense and bright fruited, with a core of ripe fruit sweetness and assertive but nicely balanced tannin structure. The wine fills out beautifully on the finish and rolls on for a very long time. Very impressive pinot noir now and will age well.

95 Points

Rating: 5 Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Pinot Noir – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2022 Pinot Noir leads with cherry and wild strawberry, garden mint (or is it a faint waft of eucalypt, instead?) and caper brine. In the mouth, the wine is silky and almost oily/velvety in its texture, with sweet blood orange, pink peppercorn and raspberry in the mix. This is a plush-feeling wine, one that ages very well over the decades. Although an unusual variety for Margaret River—the land of Chardonnay, Cabernet and Sauvignon Blanc—Moss Wood has been a staunch advocate of Pinot Noir since the late 1970s/early 1980s. The warm and generally excellent season that was 2022 likely was a little warm for classical Pinot Noir, but this is looking excellent today, and it probably will do for a very long time to come. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap

92 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2022 Ribbon Vale Cabernet Sauvignon is chalky and chewy, with raspberry pip, nori, iodine, bramble and fresh leather. This is elegant and attractively “not” fruit driven; instead, it’s propelled by exotic spice and tannins that feel silken. It’s a magnificent wine, a postcard from Margaret River in a bottle. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

93 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Merlot – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2022 Ribbon Vale Merlot is from a warm, dry and early vintage; the confluence of these climatic conditions has come together as a superb red wine vintage in the region. Aromatically, the wine leads with redcurrant and pomegranate molasses, raw cocoa and tapenade. On the spice register, we see nutmeg, clove, anise and cinnamon. It’s floral, as well. The highlight, however, is undoubtedly the tannins—chalky and ultra fine, pulverized rather than in stratum. Wow. This is excellent, just sheer elegance. 13.5% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

95 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2023 Amy’s – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2023 Amy’s hails from a superb vintage in Margaret River. Mild, dry conditions set the tone for the season, and while many of the wines are yet to be released, the early indications are that this could be one of the most astounding vintages of Margaret River’s modern era history. We shall see. You get flowers and purple fruits, fresh leather and iodine, nori and crushed shells, with dried herbs and threads of invisible acidity. This is a superb rendition of Amy’s. It’s a testament to the ongoing attention to detail in viticulture and the soft hand of the season. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

94 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2023 Chardonnay – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

I often view this wine in the context of the season it was grown. The style of Moss Wood Chardonnay is more consistent than the vintages that birth it, and so it becomes a fascinating lens through which to view the wine each year. The 2023 growing season (which, as a reminder, contains the spring and early summer at the end of 2022) was near on perfect in Margaret River, especially for the white varieties. Mild temperatures, dry conditions and everything mostly worked out—weather at flowering, yields, vine health—big generalizations perhaps, but the consistency and high quality of the year allows it. So, the 2023 Chardonnay has all the richness and tropicality that it so often does, with pineapple, peach, pink grapefruit and guava, but this year, the tension and finesse of the season are the overlay. The wine feels detailed and exciting yet is true to its own style, with nuts, pastry, creamy custard, croissants, hand-churned butter etc. … It has it all. It’s a magnificent wine from a great year, one of the best Chardonnay releases from Moss Wood. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

95 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2024 Semillon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2024 Semillon was grown in one of the hottest, driest and earliest years in Margaret River’s history, and I expected the palate to clearly reflect that. However, as testament to the detailed viticulture at Moss Wood, the wine is certainly ripe, but t displays none of the breadth or broadness that I was perhaps unfairly expecting. This leads with lemon tart and yuzus, cheesecloth and brine; it seems the warmth of the year has blasted the greenness from the characters, as there is neither hide nor hair of the typical jalapeño, coriander or lime to be seen. I like the phenolic grip through the finish, it adds an extra dimension and moves it even further away from the middle of expectation. It’s an interesting wine—and a gourmand wine at that. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

91 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Matthew Jukes

I love the 2021 vintage of this Margaret River standard bearer Cab. Made from 95% Cabernet Sauvignon (all Houghton Clone), 4% Cabernet Franc and 1% Petit Verdot from 52-year-old vines, this is as pure, deep and ripe-fruited as any Moss Wood in years gone by and with only 16% new oak involved, the fruit enjoys the centre stage and why not? 2021 was a slightly cooler year in Margaret River, and this means alongside the gloriously upholstered fruit and hints of exoticism, the tannins are demure and refined and keep themselves occupied at the back end of the wine, only coming out for a quick wave at the crown on the finish! So, we have somewhat of a treat in 2021 – a Moss Wood that has all the grandeur of a great year and a wine that is drinking very well in its youth, too! For an example of a riper and richer vintage and a wine that costs a quarter of the price of my featured Titan, look no further than 2022 Moss Wood Amy’s.

Rating: Stars