Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Facts
Median Harvest DateCabernet Sauvignon – 5th April, 2020
Cabernet Franc – 5th April, 2020
Merlot – 9th March, 2020
Malbec – 31st March, 2020
Mean Harvest RipenessCabernet Sauvignon – 13.4⁰ Be
Cabernet Franc – 13.1⁰ Be
Merlot – 13.0⁰ Be
Malbec – 13.3⁰ Be
YieldCabernet Sauvignon – 5.06 t/ha
Cabernet Franc – 6.45 t/ha
Merlot – 5.62 t/ha
Malbec – 3.67 t/ha
Ripening Time from Flowering to HarvestCabernet Sauvignon – 137 days
Cabernet Franc – 118 days
Merlot – 114 days
Malbec - 136 days
Bottled4th and 5th August 2022
Blend91% Cabernet Sauvignon
5% Merlot
2% Cabernet Franc
2% Malbec
Released7th October, 2022
Alcohol14%

Wine Facts

  • Median Harvest Date

    Cabernet Sauvignon – 5th April, 2020

    Cabernet Franc – 5th April, 2020

    Merlot – 9th March, 2020

    Malbec – 31st March, 2020

  • Mean Harvest Ripeness

    Cabernet Sauvignon – 13.4⁰ Be

    Cabernet Franc – 13.1⁰ Be

    Merlot – 13.0⁰ Be

    Malbec – 13.3⁰ Be

  • Yield

    Cabernet Sauvignon – 5.65 t/ha

    Cabernet Franc – 5.27 t/ha

    Merlot – 6.22 t/ha

    Malbec – 5.24 t/ha

  • Days Elapsed between Flowering and Harvest

    Cabernet Sauvignon – 137 days

    Cabernet Franc – 118 days

    Merlot – 114 days

    Malbec – 136 days

  • Bottled

    4th and 5th August 2022

  • Blend

    91% Cabernet Sauvignon

    5% Merlot

    2% Cabernet Franc

    2% Petit Verdot

  • Released

    7th October, 2022

  • Alcohol

    14%

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ray Jordan, Ray Jordan Wine

This is one of the best cabernets yet released from this vineyard. It’s a gracefully presented wine of elegance and poise from the fine chalky tannins through to the energised finish. Blackcurrant and savoury plum notes with a light bay leaf and black olive nuance. The palate is so tightly knit with the fine tannins…

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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…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Jane Faulkner – James Halliday, The Wine Companion

An elegant and immediately appealing Ribbon Vale offering a light spray of red fruits, leafy freshness, Moroccan mint, tobacco and cedary oak. It’s medium bodied with supple yet restrained tannins, pops of sweet fruit across the palate and fine acidity keeping this light on its feet. August, 2024  

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WA Wine Review 2024

Ray Jordan “Moss Wood is a family-owned wine company and a pioneer of the Margaret River region. Planted in 1969, Moss Wood is an important founding estate of Margaret River. Clare and Keith Mugford, as viticulturalists, winemakers and proprietors, have been tending the vineyard and making wine at Moss Wood since 1984 and 1979, respectively.…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Huon Hooke, The Real Review

Medium-deep red-purple with a briary, tomato-bush and angelica bouquet, the palate medium-full bodied and lively, intense, fine and focused, with bright and attractive cabernet cassis/raspberry fruit backed by fine, persuasive yet supple tannins. Fine, elegant cabernet, worth cellar space. February, 2024  

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ray Jordan, Ray Jordan Wine

Another stunner from the 2020 vintage. This vintage shows slightly more sweet fruit than some previously, yet the firm tannin core remains a structural feature that is part vineyard and part season. Plenty of dark fruits woven with a trace of black olives, bay leaf and oyster shell minerality. So balanced and expressive with an…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

Red and black fruits, cedar, some dried flowers and mint, blonde tobacco. It’s medium-bodied with an understated claret-like charm, and don’t mind me, but there’s a distinct flavour of honey glazed ham in the mix, along with tobacco and dried herbs. The tannin offers a light grainy grip, and the finish is all red fruit…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot.com

There is much to enjoy in this 2021 Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon which shows the elegance of the vintage. It opens with layers of graphite and pure cassis which are well backed by finely balanced French oak. Mid weight and vibrant with tannins already showing good integration behind a streamlined and complex set of blackberry and…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ned Goodwin, jamessuckling.com

A savory, mid-weighted expression from a cooler year, making for effortless early to mid-term drinking. Better tended parcels of cabernet performed well. And it shows. Pointed aromas of redcurrant, dried sage, graphite and judicious oak. Classy and fragrant, this makes for delicious drinking. Drink or hold. Screw cap. December, 2023

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot.com

The classic red variety from Margaret River, this wine is a deep, shining red. The nose is blackberries, delicatessen meats, spices, tobacco leaves and an ever-so-slight oaky note, but it is well integrated and merely adds to the complexity evident here. Attractive dark cherry touches. Fine tannins, a hint gravelly. There is balance and texture…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon – Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot.com

Over the last five years Moss Wood’s Ribbon Vale Cabernet Sauvignon has been slowly but surely climbing the quality ladder, and it’s got some big shoes to fill at this famous estate. Ribbon Vale traditionally provides a more elegant and fragrant take on the Moss Wood style – pretty wines but still with backbone –…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot.com

This is a wine that shows good structure and plenty of complexity with some Cabernet austerity. Black olives and black fruits show admirable concentration with very fine tannins and some serious length rounding out the package. This needs time and while it could be drunk now it will be much better given some time, which…

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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…

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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…

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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front

Red and black fruit, dark mint chocolate, coffee bean and tar. Medium to full-bodied, rum and raisin chocolate, dried herbs and cedar, firm grainy tannin, fresh small red berry acidity, something of an ironstone character too, with a savoury dried cherry chocolate finish of excellent length. 2024 – 2031+ January 2023

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Vintage notes

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we can make a very simple summary of the 2019/20 growing season.  We enjoyed moderate rainfall, all of which came at the right time so as not to disrupt flowering.  Combined with mild to warm temperatures through the summer we had just the sort of conditions the vines enjoy.  It’s no surprise that Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec were all picked at close to average sugar levels, albeit ever so slightly lower.  All up, a very pleasing result.

 

The point about ripeness allows us to explore one of the quirks of the season and is highlighted in the spread of harvest dates.  Autumn came upon us quite quickly and temperatures dropped off in March and so any variety that wasn’t ripe by the second week slowed right down.  As you can see, we picked Merlot on 9th March but then had to wait.  Malbec didn’t ripen until 31st March, Cabernet Franc on 5th April and Cabernet Sauvignon on the 8th.  We experienced something similar in 2008 vintage.

 

How is this expressed in the 2020 wines?  The early onset of cooler temperatures means the fruit can retain more of the delicate, scented fragrances that can often be lost.  To start with Merlot, it ripened early enough to miss most of this effect and it displays lots of blackcurrant and tarry characters, so full and generous.  However, the later picked varieties show it quite clearly.  Malbec kept more of its white pepper notes and less plum, Cabernet Franc displays summer pudding-type berries and less cherry and Cabernet Sauvignon is right in the ethereal roses and pomegranate spectrum.

 

There remains one aspect of 2020 that needs to be covered - the hailstorm on 24th October.  All the varieties were affected, although Ribbon Vale vineyard received slightly less damage than Moss Wood.  Yields were down between 18% and 25%, so frustrating but not too extreme.  As often happens in lower-cropping years, tannin is more concentrated and both the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon have the sort of structure that will ensuring they are serious cellaring prospects.

Production Notes

The fruit for each variety was hand-picked and delivered to the winery where it was destemmed, sorted and then Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Malbec were placed in small open fermenters.  Merlot was placed into closed fermenters and allowed to cold soak for 2 days.  Each batch was seeded for primary fermentation with multiple yeast strains and temperatures were controlled to a maximum of 32°C.  Extraction of colour and flavour was by hand plunging 3 time per day in open tanks and by pump over 3 times per day in the closed tanks.

 

Time on skins varied from 13 days for Cabernet Franc to 18 days for Merlot.

 

After pressing, each batch underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tank and once this was completed, were racked to barrel.  All barrels were 228 litre French oak barriques and for both the Ribbon Vale 2020 Merlot and the Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% were new.

 

In November 2021, the two wines were racked and blended for the first time and the now-finished wines were returned to barrel for the second year of aging.  They stayed in oak until July 2022, so 26 months in total.

 

After racking for the final time, fining trials were carried out to assess tannin balance.  No improvement was found and so both wines remain unfined.

 

They were then sterile filtered and bottled on 4th and 5th August 2022.

 

Beyond the influence of the vintage, there are some vineyard and winemaking changes starting to impact both wines.

 

We continue to work hard on understanding and improving our Merlot and the evolution proceeds a little further with the 2020 vintage.  The Right Bank wines of Bordeaux are the benchmark and although our historical preference was for the wines of Saint-Emilion, we learned that in fact, our vineyard produced its best wines when Merlot dominates strongly, as it does in Pomerol.  Therefore, we have used a blend of typically 95% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc.

 

Readers may not be aware but of the 4 Premier Grand Cru (the highest quality classification) wines of Saint-Emilion, Chateau Cheval Blanc (a Moss Wood favourite although one rarely consumed, given its price point), Chateau Angelus and Chateau Pavie all contain a small percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in their blends.  Only Chateau Ausone does not.  In Pomerol, another Moss Wood favourite, Vieux Chateau Certan, also contains some Cabernet Sauvignon.

 

From this we drew a simple hypothesis.  If the limited use of Cabernet Sauvignon on the Right Bank is a result of its less than reliable ripening, it follows that in Margaret River, where it can comfortably achieve full ripeness, logic suggests it will be beneficial in the blend.

 

As purists, though, we wrestled with a dilemma.  The most admired wine from Pomerol is Chateau Petrus, which retains a near God-like status and is 100% Merlot.  If the wines of that region are indeed our benchmark, it is something of a bold step to change our blend even further and add Cabernet Sauvignon to the mix, Vieux Chateau Certan notwithstanding.

 

To resolve the dilemma, we conducted tasting trials of different blends using Cabernet Sauvignon.  Yes, it may be we are biased but there was no doubting the additional palate weight that Cabernet brings and so in Ribbon Vale 2020 Merlot, we changed the blend to now include 6% each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc and anticipate this is now a long-term style for the wine.

 

Changes with the Cabernet Sauvignon style are somewhat more subtle.

 

We’ve noted before that Ribbon Vale vineyard produces wines with a more evident tannin than Moss Wood and this results in a palate that can be quite drying and grainy, if we fail to achieve full ripeness.  In addition, the main 126 clone produces a more savoury style of Cabernet Sauvignon, with obvious tar and cigar box notes.  When we purchased the property in 2000, we set about updating the vineyard and our techniques to build a more complex but better-balanced style.

 

Improved trellising led to better fruit aromas and tannin ripeness and then the addition of the Houghton clone provided more blueberry and floral fruit aromas.

 

However, with its south and west-facing aspect, Ribbon Vale can be a cool place in the autumn and grape ripening can really slow down.  Hence the important role of the blending varieties and while we’ve always had Merlot and Cabernet Franc, we introduced Malbec with the 2018 vintage, to add dark fruit generosity on the nose and palate.  Since then, it has been a regular inclusion at around 2% of the blend.  In the same way as Petit Verdot, a little bit goes a long way and it doesn’t take much Malbec to start seeing its white pepper and satsuma plum characteristics.

 

All this to say, we are approaching what we now believe is our preferred long-style.  Some might argue we’ve been slow learners, given the 2020 vintage is the 21st one we’ve made from the property!

Tasting Notes

Colour and condition:

Deep brick red hue; bright condition.

Nose:

A smoldering combination of red currant, blueberry, violets, rum and raisin chocolate and tar, with a touch of white pepper. There are toasty oak notes and plenty of Cabernet cedar and tarriness.

Palate:

The wine commences with bright sweet fruits of red currant and mulberry, almost fairyfloss-like, that run the full length of the palate. Even with this fruit sweetness, underneath there is good balance of acidity and tannin, so the wine is concentrated and relatively smooth, especially pleasing in this type of year. On the finish there are toasty oak notes and classical Cabernet Sauvignon tarriness.

Cellaring

We can say with confidence that the Ribbon Vale 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon can be aged for at least 25 years but our recommended cellaring time depends on individual taste. For those customers who enjoy a wine’s richer, youthful fruit flavours, aging for up to 10 years is about right. During that time, it will be showing its best fruit. However, the customer who prefers a classic “Claret” style wine, with lots of cedar and tar complexity, will need to keep the wine for at least 15 years, to allow it to develop these secondary notes.