Reviews Archives - Moss Wood

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2024 Elsa – Ray Jordan Wine

Warmer year equates to a wine of rich, deep flavour. Typically, bright aromatics, but I find the texture and mouthfeel captivating in this latest Elsa sauvignon blanc. Floral stone fruit and lightly grassy tropical characters on the nose. The palate then reveals a subtle honeysuckle and light butterscotch, almost like a chardonnay, with a cute beeswax character. Richly layered palate with a very long, focused finish. A 10% new oak contribution adds the final flourish to a terrific wine.

95 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2024 Elsa – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Moss Wood Elsa 2024 captures the fun, freshness and fruit forward character of Sauvignon Blanc but with extra gravitas courtesy of high quality oak.

There’s Sauvignon Blanc and then there’s Sauvignon Blanc for Chardonnay drinkers!

In a low yielding, warm and fast vintage Elsa has concentration and the playfulness we all enjoy in the variety – ripe kiwi, pineapple, lime tart, some spiced pear.

Fermentation and 9 months aging in new oak provide wight, breath and texture. A little seriousness…

But there is no escaping that it’s delicious!

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2024 Chardonnay – Fergal Gleeson, Great Wine Blog

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale (RV) Chardonnay is one of 2 single vineyard Chardonnays from Wilyabrup released by the Domain.

The RV vineyard is higher altitude and cooler than Moss Wood Vineyard, typically resulting in a higher acid style.

2024 was a warm, dry vintage with grapes picked in mid February, 1 month earlier than average.

Grapes are handpicked and sorted, fermented in steel and oak. It’s a complex wine undergoing malolactic fermentation and ageing in 47% new French oak.

RV 2024 is a full-bodied Chardonnay with white and yellow peach flavors. It’s early days for wine of this quality but it’s balance is already clear – fruit, integrated with high quality oak and a great acid line driving everything along.

Rating: Stars

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

Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon is one of Australia’s most respected, desired and resaleable wines!

The 2022 marks Moss Wood Cabernet’s 50th vintage. Another winery might make a brouhaha about that. But if you’ve spoken to Keith and Clare Mugford you’d know they don’t do that sort of thing!

They just do what they’ve been doing since 1979. Getting on with making great wines without any fuss.

The aromatics are predictably beguiling-berries red and black, pencil lead and graphite.

Those fruit notes are also on the palate along with all the varietal complexity you could hope for – cigar notes, black tea, bay leaf, polished tannins all sitting inside a medium bodied frame.

Moss Wood predict full maturity at 25-40 years from now. A mind-boggling wait! But one of the strengths of this site and the winemaking is how enjoyable it is on release.

If you haven’t tasted Moss Wood Cabernet, treat yourself, it really is as good as you’ve heard. And the 2022 is an exceptionally strong instalment.

Rating: 5 Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – The Cellar Post

Beautiful definition and purity on the nose that shows fresh cassis, blackberries, and black plum, with cedar, pencil shavings, subtle vanilla and mocha nuances. Medium-full, superb freshness and concentration on the palate, dark fruit with a vibrant streak of purple, excellent oak spice, clove and tobacco, firm tannins and vibrant acidity. Structurally this is excellent. Powerful and elegant. A wine that’s begging for decade in the cellar before rewarding in spades over the following 20+. Brilliant.

97 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Gary Walsh, Wine Front

94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 2% Petit Verdot. Here we have a classic Moss Wood Cabernet, and maybe, though don’t mind me, it puts me in mind of the 2001 for richness and presence.

It’s a powerhouse Cabernet and classic Moss Wood in terms of intensity and regal carriage. Black fruit, dried cranberry, cedar, nutmeg, dried flower perfume, tobacco, and damp earth. It sweeps through the palate with grilled nuts, toast, fresh blackberry, a whole lot of sweet grainy tannin and black tea perfume, acidity is balanced and present, and the finish crackles, thunders and goes very long. Quite a wine. Outstanding.

96 Points

Rating: Stars

Moss Wood 2022 Pinot Noir – Huon Hooke, The Real Review

Moss Wood Pinot Noir bottle image with atmospheric background.

Margaret River isn’t one of the great pinot noir regions, consequently there are very few made there. This is the best Moss Wood pinot noir I’ve tasted for many years.

Youthful red-purple colour, bright and deep. There are cherry, ginger and iodine/peat aromas which are bright and fresh and fruit driven, while the palate is excitingly intense and bright fruited, with a core of ripe fruit sweetness and assertive but nicely balanced tannin structure. The wine fills out beautifully on the finish and rolls on for a very long time. Very impressive pinot noir now and will age well.

95 Points

Rating: 5 Stars

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

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