Reviews Archives - Moss Wood

Moss Wood 2022 Pinot Noir – Wine Worth Writing About – Quality!

Moss Wood Pinot Noir bottle image with atmospheric background.

Clear ruby with a purple/pink hue and a floral and spiced nose of blossoms, violets, cherries and lush red berries, blood orange and Chinotto, roasted fig leaf, sweet Darjeeling tea, dried mint, vanilla, cassia, forest underbrush and a gentle charred smokiness.

In the mouth, you’re met with deliciously ripe, juicy, yet crunchy flavours of black cherries, luscious red berries, plum and spice that are lifted with florals and deepened by savoury herbals. A grip of fine grained, peach fur-like tannins brings good tension and texture, while beautifully judged acidity drives it all with intensity and freshness. There’s a lovely sense of balance with this release, and though it shows the meat and bones for aging, it’s already drinking well! The tail is long and quite tight, ending on a final note of tart apple and plum skins. Delicious… good luck keeping your hands off this one!

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2023 Chardonnay – Wine Worth Writing About – Serious

Medium gold with a touch of cyan and a nose of luscious white peach, fresh fig, lemon zest, toasted crumpets with butter and honey, cashew, raw pistachio, vanilla-rich creme brulee and a touch of Sicilian green olive.

In the mouth it’s creamy, gently saline, charged with tense acidity and textured with furry tannins that grip tight. As of right now, it’s quite firmly structured and needed some hours to unfurl and come together.

Generous flavours of Korean pear, white peach, slightly underripe nectarine, zesty lemon/lime, apricot nectar, toasted oats and caramelised white chocolate show their hand quite early in the arc and do their best to hold over a long, dry and phenolic tail that will surely evolve in time. A serious release of the Moss Wood Chardonnay.

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Wine Worth Writing About – Delicious, bold and decadent

Deep, dark ruby with a concentrated and powerful nose of spicy potpourri, a little bit of honey, dried blueberry, plenty of black fruits, roast lamb, dried mint, pineapple sage, date molasses, cedar, bitumen, roasted chestnut and cocoa.

In the mouth it’s rich and juicy, beautifully textured and bursts with intense flavours of dark cherry, raspberry gums, black fruits, licorice, blood orange, chocolate coated blueberries, rehydrated almonds, hints of berry yogurt and toasted spices. So decadent, but it’s balanced with just the right amount of acidity and fine, yet firm sage-like tannins that grip and hold with tension. It moves, as one, over its arc through to a very long and seductive tail that ends with a lift of violets, cherries and chocolate. A banging release of the Ribbon Vale Cabernet that’s big, but well proportioned for pleasure.

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Merlot – Wine Worth Writing About – A serious Aussie Merlot!

Deep ruby, like a black cherry, and a lifting nose of sweet leafy potpourri, honeybush tea, dried Iranian fig, raspberry gums, baked plum, blackcurrant jubes, pickled walnut, dried thyme, pencil shavings, forest floor and cedar.

In the mouth it’s structured, vivacious, dry and acutely focused with a core of bright and juicy red berries, mulberry, blackberry, cherries and plum that are spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and clove and are steered savoury with earthy/dried leafy/underbrush complexities. It’s surcharged with acidity and gripped by firm, tight grained tannins that bring serious tension and a crunch of texture. It reaches long, and ends before its story has been told. Super tight right now, but more than confident that this will age gracefully for many years.

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Amy’s – Matthew Jukes

Heaven! I have yet to meet a more ardent fan of Moss Wood wines than yours truly, and this is another epic Aussie wine which is featured in my 100 Best Australian Wines Report 2025.

Silky, honed, blackberry-soaked and seamless, Amy’s is one of the most incredible Cabernets on earth, and while it embodies the hallowed turf of Margaret River, it also manages to wink at the Médoc and nudge Bolgheri in the ribs, too, such is the class and detail here. I know the price looks too cheap for it to be a genuinely serious wine, but I can assure you that this is one of the finest value Cabs on planet Earth.

Rating: 5 Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Ribbon Vale Cabernet is one of the sleeper wines in Moss Wood’s range.

It is no second wine to the flagship Moss Wood Cabernet. It’s a wine of similar ambition.

The Ribbon Vale is a powerful, single vineyard expression from the Ribbon Vale vineyard built to last for 30+ years Moss Wood forecast.

The 2022 is a potpourri of black and blue fruit on the nose. On the palate it’s a complex wine with red fruits such as cranberry and pomegranate melted with tobacco, cedar, undergrowth, acid and tannins.

The RV is 90% Cabernet with 2,5% each of Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Malbec and Petit Verdot.

I’d cellar for a minimum of 5 years to let the elements come together. Decant for many hours if you are going early but this one is built to evolve over decades.

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2022 Merlot – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

If you’re only going to drink one Australian Merlot in the year? Moss Wood Merlot 2022 is an excellent candidate!

Forget the guy from Sideways! Merlot can be a serious wine. And Moss Wood make one of Australia’s best.

Flavours of blackberry, blueberry, violets, milk chocolate sit inside a medium to full bodied wine that also has a wonderful savoury character.

Tannins are of excellent quality and underwrite what Moss Wood estimate will be a 25 year + life span.

The balance is exceptional with high quality fruit rounded out with tar notes, those tannins and lively acidity.

86% Merlot is seasoned with 7% each of Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc.

Few Australian winemakers offer a Merlot of this quality. It’s a great alternative to top shelf right bank Bordeaux.

Rating: 5 Stars

Moss Wood 2023 Amy’s – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Amy’s is one of the trio of Moss Wood Cabernets. They are all single vineyard releases. To clarify, Amy’s is about 85% Cabernet with the balance of Petit Verdot, Malbec and Merlot.

And you can see the varietal synergies – Petit Verdot adding pepper and spices, Merlot and Malbec bringing plushness and rounded fruit.

It’s billed as the early drinking one. But make no mistake it has the tannins, body and quality to cellar nicely for 10 years.

December, 2024

Rating: 4 Stars

Moss Wood 2024 Semillon – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Moss Wood Semillon 2024 has lime and lemongrass flavours with subtle texture and complexity. Flavoursome and fruit driven given the absence of oak in the winemaking.

Moss Wood are one of the only winemakers in Margaret River making an age worthy style which they recommend can cellar for up to 30 years.

Hunter Semillon has not much in common as Moss Wood Semillon has much more palate weight, breath and ripeness on release.

December, 2024

Rating: 4 Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Pinot Noir – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Moss Wood Pinot Noir 2022 is a delicious and accomplished wine. Lots of ‘pinotosity’ on the nose – strawberry, cherry and florals.

Those red fruits flow through on the palate in what is a well balanced wine.

Balance? It’s the refreshing, bright acid and fine smooth tannins that accompany the fruit.

It’s made with about 20% whole bunch which builds in tannins and 20% new oak. Moss Wood is medium bodied with a good depth of flavour.

Moss Wood’s founders planted Pinot way back in the 1973, which is very early in the lifeline of Australian Pinot.

And Moss Wood Pinot stand up very well to top shelf Tasmanian and Victorian Pinot.

The 2022 is particularly strong.

December,2024

Rating: Stars