Wine Reviews
Moss Wood 2021 Semillon – Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Moss Wood make a serious Semillon! While most in Margaret River blend with Sauvignon Blanc Moss Wood make and unoaked single varietal. There’s lemongrass and nectarine fruit finishing dry with a little chalk. It’s more like a Chablis than most Australian Chardonnay. I can’t write about Australian Semillon without referencing…
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Moss Wood 2020 Chardonnay-Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Stars align for Moss Wood Chardonnay 2020, one of the Margaret River greatest vineyards delivering one of the region’s hero varieties in an excellent vintage. It also helps that winemaker Keith Mugford has been on the tools at Moss Wood since 1979 so he knows the terroir. There’s all kinds…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Elsa – Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Moss Wood have just released 2020 Elsa, a sophisticated Sauvignon Blanc. Moss Wood’s first release of Elsa was the 2019 with the aim of making more complex Sauv Blanc. Winemaking techniques support this through oak barrel fermentation and ageing and more use of solids to build flavours. 10% Semillon also…
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Moss Wood 2019 Pinot Noir – Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Moss Wood Pinot Noir frequently defies preconceptions of the potential of Pinot in Margaret River. Blind tasted it sits comfortably with high end Pinots from more noted Australian and New Zealand Pinot Noir regions. So it is with Moss Wood Pinot Noir 2019 which is pretty and bright with strawberry…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Merlot – Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…but Merlot makes some of the best wine in the world! Most Australian wine drinkers would be shocked that Merlot can make wine as powerful, long lived and complex as top notch Cabernet, Pinot Noir or Shiraz. Few Australian wine producers have tried…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon-Fergal Gleeson, Greatwineblog
Moss Wood are one of Australia’s masters of Cabernet Sauvignon so a Cab seems like the right wine to finish the reviews of their new releases. The Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon was their best yet. 2019 backs it up and delivers on expectations emphatically in this cool…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2020 Chardonnay-Winsor Dobbin @WinsorDobbin, www.gourmetontheroad.com
If you like your chardonnays bold and outspoken then you’ve come to the right place. An Australian classic, this is a complex, rich, chardonnay that can either be enjoyed in its voluptuous youth or cellared with confidence. Aged on lees in French barriques, this has a panoply of flavours from…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Elsa – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
A wine like this is always a tough one to review. As ever, it must be done as objectively as possible on the undoubted merits of the wine and this is a wine that will have many supporters. That said, this is a love-it-or-hate-it wine – all these ‘worked’ Savvies…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2019 Pinot Noir – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
I’m sure that the team at Moss Wood are sick and tired of the ‘does Pinot Noir work in Margaret River?’ debate. No question that there are better regions, more suited to the glories of this wonderful variety, but in the end, it all depends on what is in the…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2020 Chardonnay-Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
This is an exciting Chardy from Moss Wood (aren’t they all?). Scintillating colour with the greens mixing with a pale sunrise. This is young, for me at this stage, a little too young. Notes of limes and lemons, some ginger. Good oak integration adding to the complexity. A ripe style…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon-Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
The Ribbon Vale wines always raise the dreaded debate about ‘2nd labels’. I know that they are not 2nd wines at all, but I am also aware that a lot of winelovers see them as that. The best argument is what is in the bottle and I have no doubt…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Merlot – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
Merlot may not have the overwhelming popularity it did some years ago but it still has many fans. This one was handpicked into small, open fermenters, hand-plunged three times a day before ten days on skins. Then to closed fermenters and pumped over thrice daily. Multiple yeasts were used before…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2021 Semillon – Ken Gargett, Wine Pilot
Moss Wood in Margaret River has been making Semillon for over four decades, and it has a loyal following. Not always as consistent as their other wines, but, as they say in the classics, when it is good, it is very good. The style has seen variations over time and…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2020 Elsa – Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot
Some of my compatriots in the wine writing game are not the biggest fans of full worked Sauvignon Blanc, but I am not one of them. Actually I think these wines can be some of the best white wines in the world when done right, as can be seen in…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2019 Pinot Noir – Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot
Great to see Moss Wood Pinot Noir in such fine form in 2019 with the cooler vintage clearly working in its favour to produce a standout vintage and potentially a new high water mark for this label – only time will tell. A lightish Pinot colour, not such a bad…
Read ReviewMoss Wood 2020 Chardonnay-Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot
Bright mid straw in colour, this is a typically punchy Moss Wood Chardonnay that is a little raw right now but everything is in place to provide serious drinking pleasure in the coming years. Fruit is powerful with a mix of nectarine and apricot lathered in toasty oak which brings…
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Moss Wood 2021 Semillon-Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot
Great to see Moss Wood sticking with Semillon after all these years. And that perseverance pays off with wines which are always interesting and food friendly styles. This is a big wine from 2021 that weighs in at 14.5% alcohol but still has the acid balance which should see it…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon-Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot
A real Claret or Bordeaux style here from Moss Wood thanks to its elegance, focus and good structure. Only moderate ruby in colour, yet immediately it shows a crystal clear expression of cool climate Cabernet Sauvignon thanks to fragrant red currant, blackcurrant, leaf and cedar all wrapped up in a…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Merlot-Angus Hughson, Wine-Pilot
Moss Wood’s Ribbon Vale Merlot is making a name for itself as one of the country’s finest for this varietal in a good season, although the wines are always strongly varietal examples. The 2019 edition is a lightly framed and pretty style of Margaret River Merlot boasting fruit pastille ,…
Read ReviewMoss Wood Ribbon Vale 2019 Merlot – Bob Campbell, The Real Review
Bright, vibrant merlot with Black Doris plum, red berry, tamarillo and pomegranate supported by assertive acidity and fine, ripe tannins. Good cellaring potential. Benefits from aeration. Published December 2021
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