Reviews Archives - Moss Wood

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

Moss Wood Pinot Noir bottle image with atmospheric background.

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

Moss Wood 2023 Amy’s – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot

Very much Cabernet Sauvignon dominant (83%), the wine also enjoys contributions from Merlot (5%), Malbec (6%) and Petit Verdot (6%). After fermentation and blending, the wine was returned to the 228-litre French oak barrels, none of them new, for maturation for a year and a half. A purple/maroon colour here, we have a nose exhibiting some of those classic Cab notes with black fruits, truffles, black cherries, cedar, cigar boxes and tobacco leaves, beef stock and graphite. There is deftly handled oak, silky tannins, excellent balance and length. This is a superb Cabernet blend and should drink beautifully for at least the next ten to twelve years. The team talk about it being approachable young and it certainly is, but I also think it has a long future – it simply has such fine balance and so much going on that it can’t miss. This is a stellar Amy’s.

94 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2024 Semillon – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot

This vintage reminded the family of 1994/1995, though one suspects much has changed in the meantime. The fruit was whole bunch pressed to stainless steel for fermentation, before bottling. The colour here is a shining pale lemon. This is a slightly grassy style, as Margaret River Sem can sometimes be. There are also pleasing notes of lemon curds, citrus, hints of stone fruit and lemongrass and a whiff of honeycomb. Well structured with good focus and energy, this has drive and is of medium length. A wine for enjoying any time over the next six to eight years, although the track record of these wines suggests that they will provide pleasure for many years beyond that. And continue to evolve. If one may digress, for the wine nerds among us who like to soak up every possible detail, winery websites vary enormously from utterly useless to excellent. I have never encountered one better than Moss Wood. If there is something you want to know and it is not on their site, I could not imagine what it could be.

92 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2023 Chardonnay – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot

Amazing to think that Moss Wood’s oldest Chardonnay vines are now 48 years of age. Fermentation for this cracking Chardonnay was finished in 228-litre French oak barriques. The wine was then blended in tank and returned to barrel, with 49% new, for the next year and a half. The colour here is a deep but attractive lemon gold. This is a superb Margaret River Chardonnay. Complexity is already evident, as are notes of stone fruits, cashews, oatmeal, ginger, lemongrass, peaches and immaculate oak handling. The supple, creamy, cushiony texture is an absolute highlight. A wine of fine balance and serious length, this has at least a decade of providing pleasure ahead of it. A stunner.

96 Points

Rating: Stars