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. Impeccable balance and impressive palate length. The tannins are supple, powdery and gentle. A very fine cabernet which is all about elegance and harmony.

September, 2024

 

96 Points

Rating: Stars
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Elsa – Cassandra Charlick-Camerer, Wine Pilot

Atmospheric image of Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Elsa 2023 bottle

Full malolactic fermentation,  7% new oak for nine months. Very inviting on the nose thanks to crème brulee creaminess, artisan candied fruit, vanilla bean and slight honeysuckle musk. The perfumed oak is in abundance, with a delicate toast, charry fringes and plenty of prettiness. Following on, the palate is unctuous and has a ripe, almost lolly shop fruit sweetness paired with the vanillin oak, but at no point does it reach into cloying territory thanks to fresh acidity and a balanced composition. Rounded custard apple, peach blossom and a hint of feijoa. Kaffir lime lifts through peaches and cream, with echoes of dried sage and lemon balm wax. A complex mid-weight wine, whose acidity hums along to the tune of the fruit and tannins. The quality of fruit shows in the length on the palate and fantastic concentration of flavour. The epitome of loveliness. Drink now to 2030.

95 Points

Rating: Stars
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Chardonnay – Cassandra Charlick-Camerer, Wine Pilot

100% malolactic fermentation and 23% new French oak barriques for nine months.

This is no shrinking violet of a wine. Fruit is in the fuller spectrum with plenty of lanolin and ribbons of ripe and opulent florals. Delicate charry oak wraps around golden blossom, lemon curd, red berries, and melt-in-your-mouth brioche laced with baking spice. Glossy, golden and fine phenolics provide layers of texture on the palate, paired with a simmering acidity. There is lots going on here, and it keeps evolving in the glass. There’s an intensity to the core of fruit, though the plush outer layers offer delicate banoffee tart, fresh vanilla pod, and pillowy whipped creaminess. Yes, it’s a plump iteration of the variety, yet there’s a tautness to the fruit and acid balance that invites plenty of love for a Chardonnay of this style. Drink now to 2038.

 

94 Points

Rating: Stars
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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 leaf, black florals and red berries. Plenty of cedary fine oak and delicate spice makes this hard to resist. Pure seduction. Beautiful fruit bursts forth on the palate, fine and layered. Salted red plum, tomato strap, red cherries, sweet wooded spice, crushed aniseed and caraway, chocolate dust and savoury tones of just-pulled root vegetables. Black fruited and wet earth spice sit at the core. A cabernet in the delicate end of the spectrum, fine boned tannins and silky, silty and abundant. Acidity is spirited, dancing along to a light hearted jig. There’s a fluidity to the shape of this wine on the palate, and the effect is mesmerising. A wine to draw you down the garden path with intrigue and length for days. Drink 2024 to 2044.

 

96 Points

Rating: Stars
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Moss Wood 2022 Chardonnay – Cassandra Charlick, Decanter

Creamy nougat, with a simmering, flinty minerality and lemon curd on the nose. There’s gentle yet opulent oak spice, a little char and pretty white florals lifting things up to craft an elegant and refined picture. In its youth the oak is still persistent, but time should nestle this further into a fruit core of billowy white peach. Polished and glossy tannins, and a precise, manicured finish. Full malolactic ferment in 54% new oak and matured in barrel for 16 months.

June, 2024

 

94 Points

Rating: Stars
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Chardonnay -Cassandra Charlick, Decanter

A bottle of Ribbon Vale wine laying on a table

Firmly in the riper spectrum of Margaret River Chardonnay, the nose is cushioned and pillowy, with finely perfumed oak spice, woven with lifted honeysuckle, ripe apple and candied lemon drop, then leaning towards tropical tones of compressed rockmelon. The palate is resplendent with powerful, polished and glossy, rounded phenolics. A fine veil of sea spray salinity and tightly strung acidity keeps thing fresh and moving along. Cellaring will reveal much more with time. Whole-bunch pressed, full malolactic, fermented and aged in 50% new oak for nine months.

June, 2024

93 Points

Rating: 5 Stars
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cassandra Charlick, Decanter

Ripe fruit. Nose is resplendent with mulberry, cassis, dried florals, sappy hints, green peppercorn, black earth and nori flecks. Supple, energetic palate follows the nose, with a jumble of red fruits and graphite. Fine, firm tannins and fresh acidity, the union of the two producing an energetic and elegant wine. Lacks the fruit density and power to take it to the next level.

June, 2024.

92 Points

Rating: Stars
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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 filled with pleasure and life. Elegant and self-assured.

June, 2024

 

95 Points

Rating: Stars
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