Wine Reviews

Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – Fergal Gleeson, The Great Wine Blog
Moss Wood Semillon and Ribbon Vale SBS offer wine lovers access to Moss Wood quality at a lower price than the iconic reds. Despite using the same technique the Semillon is very different in style to Hunter Valley Semillon. It’s richer, textured and satisfying even in its youth. Definitely not…
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Moss Wood 2018 Semillon – Fergal Gleeson, The Great Wine Blog
Moss Wood Semillon and Ribbon Vale SBS offer wine lovers access to Moss Wood quality at a lower price than the iconic reds. Despite using the same technique the Semillon is very different in style to Hunter Valley Semillon. It’s richer, textured and satisfying even in its youth. Definitely not…
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Moss Wood 2017 Amy’s – Bob Campbell, The Real Review
“A blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec and petit verdot. Dense, ripe, fruit-focused red with dark-fleshed plum, blackberry, dried redcurrant, wood-smoke and spicy flavours. A perfectly balanced wine with a backbone of sweet, ripe tannins.” Published 15 January 2019 “Moss Wood’s 2017 Amy’s is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, malbec…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2016 Cabernet Sauvignon – Bob Campbell, The Real Review
“Predominantly cabernet with a small amount of petit verdot and cabernet franc. Tight-knit cabernet sauvignon with blackcurrant and dark berry flavours, plus a seasoning of baked earth, cedar wood, new leather and subtle oak. Can be enjoyed now but should age well.” Published 15 January 2019 “The 2016 Moss Wood Ribbon…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2016 Merlot – Bob Campbell, The Real Review
“A blend of merlot and cabernet franc. Elegant, juicy wine with dark berry fruit, mixed spice, cedar, savoury, leather and wood polish flavours. A backbone of ripe tannins offer support and promise cellaring potential, although the wine can certainly be enjoyed now.” Published 15 January 2019 “The 2016 Moss Wood Ribbon…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2014 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
For whatever reason, I’ve been told that Margaret River SSB/SBS is a bit of hard sell these days in retail, whereas it was a hot item a number of years ago. Admittedly, I don’t really know very much about what goes on in retail land. Ribbon Vale is usually a…
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Moss Wood 2013 Amy’s – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Red and black fruits, sage and peppermint, cocoa and spice. Medium bodied, smooth mint chocolate flavours, tannin bobbing beneath a pool of sweet fruit, spice and cocoa – presents almost like a Rioja Reserva in many respects – then a slick of tannin and fragrant oak and fruit to finish.…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2012 Merlot – Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Medium-bodied merlot out of Margaret River. It’s in pretty decent form. Mulberry, gravel and mint flavours swing amiably through the palate, aided by a light dusting of milk chocolate and pencil-like oak. It turns stern through the finish, as tannin cranks into gear, but at all points it feels well…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2012 Cabernet Merlot – Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
I like what I see here with this Ribbon Vale Cabernet Merlot. The balance is excellent. It’s a wine of good, deep colour too. It’s all spearmint and blackcurrant, chocolate and gravelly earth, its charms obvious but none the lesser for it. Brighter redcurrant/red berry notes are evident too; it…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2013 Merlot – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
I noted, with some interest (…), a comment from James Halliday – “If there’s a better merlot in Australia, please get its maker to send a bottle for tasting.” and 97 points. Move over Petrus. A very nice wine it is too. Red berries, a little minted vanilla cream, tobacco…
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Moss Wood 2016 Amy’s – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Dark chocolate and spice, polished wood, red and black fruits. It’s full bodied, boysenberry springs to mind, and again that bitter dark chocolate and earthy tone, along with some open weave slightly gritty tannin, a slight warmth, and a chunky finish of modest length. It’s a pretty robust and dark…
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Moss Wood 2015 Pinot Noir – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Perhaps because of my (somewhat) perverse nature, I tend to enjoy Pinot Noir from places where Pinot-Noir, apparently, should not be grown. Goodness me, it’s not like its a special grape variety or anything… Raisin, but with perfume, earth, chocolate and blackcurrant, along with plenty of spice. A fuller bodied…
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Moss Wood 2017 Chardonnay – Gary Walsh, The Wine Front
Golden and rich. It’s full of peach, apple and lime, with plenty of spicy sawn wood and vanilla. Full-bodied, and full of flavour, powerful and quite oaky, but with the fruit to mop it up. Almond and butter gloss cut with firm grapefruity acidity, and a long dry finish that…
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Moss Wood 2016 Pinot Noir – Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com
Medium to light red colour with a trace of purple, the bouquet minty and shrill, with sharp-edged, almost medicinal overtones. The palate finishes with heat and astringency, and there seems to be some extraction in the tannins. The acidity is strident and seems a little out of harmony. A bigger…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2016 Merlot – Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com
Medium to full red colour with the faintest trace of purple. The bouquet is quite minty, with eucalyptus as well as raspberry overtones, the palate fruity and medium-bodied, soft and rounded, easy to enjoy. It’s pleasantly flavoured and structured. There’s abundant fruit on the palate, which is both bright and…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2018 Sauvignon Blanc Semillon – Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com
Light straw-yellow colour, with a hint of nougat on the nose, as well as vanilla and nutty suggestions of barrel age. There is richness and texture, intensity and drive, with good extract and satisfying weight, as well as subtle varietal definition. It has a satisfying, juicy finish and a clean,…
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Moss Wood 2018 Semillon – Huon Hooke, huonhooke.com
Light straw-yellow colour, with a straw and lemongrass aroma, the palate taut and tight, restrained and young but quite intense with a clean, properly dry, refreshing finish. The palate is intense, concentrated and youthful and not too straightforward. It could be more rewarding in a few more months. The fruit…
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Moss Wood 2017 Chardonnay – James Halliday, Top 100 Whites 2018, The Wine Companion
It only takes a millisecond to know you are in the presence of vinous royalty. This is a truly beautiful chardonnay, seamless perfection from the first sip. You know there has to be quality oak somewhere in the wine, and know that all the analytical numbers will be a Bo…
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Moss Wood 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon – James Halliday Wine Companion, Top 100 Wines 2018
The bouquet shows the first signs of development via nuances of spice and earth. The palate is still bracing and fresh, cassis and redcurrant on the same page. These different personas are simply an intermediate stage before the wine moves on to a lingering plateau measured in decades not years.…
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Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2016 Merlot – James Halliday, Top 100 Whites 2018, The Wine Companion
Vibrant crimson-purple; if you are searching for a merlot that has bell-clear varietal character and is a joy to drink, go no further: this is it. It is sheer perfection, its red fruits dripping from a trellis line of fine tannins and controlled French oak. The best Australian merlot I’ve…
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