Reviews Archives - Moss Wood

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Chardonnay – Marc Malouf, Wines Worth Writing About

A bottle of Ribbon Vale wine laying on a table

Gold with a touch of cyan and a nose of white pepper, lemon drops, green apple gums, banana ester, vanilla, dried ginger and peanut brittle. The oak is quite pronounced on this release.

In the mouth it’s rich and juicy with dense flavours of apple, pear and peach, coloured by plenty of caramel-vanilla oak. A seam of chewy lime-like acidity helps drive the fruit, but it seems to lose momentum at the midpalate and doesn’t quite achieve the usual Moss Wood sense of completeness. It ends on whispers

April, 2023

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Elsa – Marc Malouf, Wines Worth Writing About

Straw with a touch of lime and a floral and highly aromatic nose of honeysuckle, gardenia and frangipani with guava, yellow pear, Piel de Sapo melon, snow peas, Chantilly, nougat, cashew and lime cordial.

There’s a touch of salinity in the background too.

In the mouth it’s rich, creamy and fulsome, but balanced well by a line of bouncy acidity that drives a core of ripe fruit, hints of leafiness and caramel-nutty oak. Lovely balance and length. A chew of fine tannins hold from the midpalate onwards and it ends on a nectar like hum of fruits. YUM!

April, 2023

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Elsa – Edward Agg, The Cellar Post

There’s plenty about this wine. Quality release

Nose – White peach, pear, guava, lychee, generous yet focused with a gooseberry citrus tightness, dried grassy qualities, and hints of toasted oak spice.

Palate – Medium-bodied, rich, balanced. White stonefruit with a sweeter tropical core, peach, guava, and gooseberry crunchiness. Plenty of volume and impact here, though the line and focus remains strong.

Very good length, very well made, much to enjoy

April, 2023

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – Marc Malouf, Wine Worth Writing About

A bottle of Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon wine laying on a table

Ruby and purple with a slightly different nose to what I remember from the Moss Wood Cabernet’s of past vintages. There’s a fig leafiness in there, some musky florals, white pepper, baked blueberry and hints of olive that sit alongside blackberry, creme de cassis, fern, tobacco, cedar, tar and smoky charred oak.

In the mouth it’s structured, tightly layered and intense in flavour, rushing with rich red, blue and black berries, spiced with clove, cinnamon, anise and hints of green olive. Good concentration and plenty of fruit, with acidity that’s riding a little high at the moment and needs time to settle. Closely knit feathery tannins hold firm and bring serious texture and tension across the arc of the palate and don’t let go. Impressive! It fades slowly and evenly over a long and dry tail that hums with berries and spice.

This release has been built for the long haul and will reward those with patience.

April 2023

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Elsa – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

Aromas of ripe almost sweet goosberry and lemon, there’s a distinctive mineral quality suggesting sand and salt, sea air and clay. A layer of wood spice and lees scents layer in complexity and breadth. On the palate – excellent with a coarse-silk texture then contrasting acidity and a core of citrus then gosseberry and hay and stone fruit and apple. Oak and acidity along with the brief skin-contact time provide the core foundation adding mouthfeel and length. Youthful, salivatine with a light saline note, fresh and lengthy. A wine for enjoyment today or best from 2023 through 2029.

April, 2022

94 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Merlot – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

A precise, measured and focused bouquet with scents of baking spices and roasted plums, some black berry fruits and wood smoke. Complex and youthful, enticing and new. Delicious and dry on the palate with flavours of anise and vanilla, plums and dark berry fruits and nut. Firm tannins and acidity remind me of the youthful side of this wine, but the core fruits and sweeter wood flavours make this example morish and drinkable today. Best enjoyed from late 2023 through 2029+.

December, 2022

94 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

A lovely bouquet with a complex mix of soft smoky wood and dark berries, crushed violets and sweet tobacco, sweet black olives and bell-peppers with baking spices and clay soil scents. Weighty, itense and dry on the palate, there’s lots of textures from tannins and acidity then contrasting flavours of black berries and plums, black cirrant and tobacco spices. Taut, dry, youthful and needs time. Best drinking from 2025 through 2035.

December, 2022

95 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

A distinctive and enticing bouquet of dark red berries and vanilla, baked plum and clove, gun flint and violet, dark rose and fresh tobacco. Complex and youthful, vibrant and fruity. Lovely weight and mouthfeel with a core of dark red fruit flavours then almost immediately a tautness from tannins, acidity and oak. The package of fruit with toasty wood spices, tobacco and dry stone mineral qualities deliver a wine that young and vibrant, intense and tasty. A wine that also needs some cellar time to bring together all the attributes and energy. A lengthy finish with best drinking from 2025 through 2035+.

April, 2022

94 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Merlot – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

Smoky, toasty, dark fruited and inviting with aromas of ripe dark plums and blue fruits, baking spice and clove spices from barrel. Dry, youthful, balanced, fruity and fresh on the palate. Frim tannins and acid line contrast a core of fruit and flavours that mirror the bouquet.
Balanced, refreshing, salivating and ready to drink from 2022 through 2028+.

December, 2021

92 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cameron Douglas, camdouglasms.com

Ripe, fruity, varietal and nicely complex bouquet without being overdone. Aromas of black berries and dark plums, violets and dried herb, some tobacco and bell-pepper layers then scents of fresh new wood and mild toasty spices. Equally complex and delicious on the palate with flavours of violets and red berries to reflect the bouquet. Firm tannins and acid line reflect the variety and provide the correct structure for this wine style. Lovely long finish.

Best drinking from 2023 through 2035+.

December 2021

95 Points

Rating: Stars