Moss Wood 1994 Cabernet Sauvignon

CAB SAUV 94

Wine Facts

Harvested: 24/3/1994
Bottled: 31/12/1994
Released: 23/7/1996
Yield: 8.89 t/ha
Baume: 12.80
Alcohol: 13.50%
Vintage Rating: 8/10

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cassandra Charlick, Decanter

Still a baby of a wine, tightly bundled, but goodness: the presence is there. Toasty oak wraps the fruit, yet it’s well matched to the power of 2022. Red fruit laced with aniseed, a graphite through line and warm spice – just a pinch of vanilla. The palate is like lifting the gate to a…

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Angus Hughson, Wine Pilot

Exceptional purity to the 2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon as it radiates with blackcurrant, warm slate, gravel and earthy aromas.  It is a fuller-flavoured vintage but retains the estate signature of finesse with powerful, sweet cassis and red earth flavours with a not unwelcome touch of mint. Mid weight and stylish while pliable tannins hold…

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Andrew Caillard, The Vintage Journal

Medium deep crimson. Attractive cassis, truffle, vanilla aromas with hints of mocha/ cedar. Inky deep with fresh blackcurrant vanilla, espresso flavours, fine grainy tannins and well-integrated vanilla/ marzipan notes. Finishes chalky and long with chinotto and aniseed notes. A classic Moss Wood vintage with lovely richness, definition and mineral length. Should last the distance. A…

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ken Gargett, The Wine Pilot

This stunning Margaret River Cabernet has 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot included. The team talk of some of the difficulties encountered by Margaret River wineries during this year, but everything is relative and a difficult vintage here seems to be the dream of many other regions. It was a year that finished extremely…

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ray Jordan Wine

This was a very good vintage in Margaret River after the slightly more challenging ’21. This has the refined elegance and prettiness that is the Moss Wood DNA. The colour is quite pale compared to some previous vintages, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is some shrinking violet. Violets, yes, but plenty more in…

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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…

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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.…

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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,…

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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…

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Moss Wood 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon leads with spiced maple and star anise, pomegranate molasses and blood plum. It is inky without being dense or heavy and uncoils out through a long and undulating finish. There are notes of red toffee apple and coffee beans, raspberry pip and nori, bay leaf and saltbush. A wonderful wine, it’s…

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Moss Wood 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon is a child of the 2020 season, which was warm, early and low yielding, and the wines from the area have been decidedly structural, lushly fruited and powerful. All in all, they are excellent quality across the board, and this wine here is no exception. Dense tannins, layered with pink peppercorn,…

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Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate

The 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon leads with raspberry and red gravel, cassis, cocoa and tobacco, with layers of red apple and licorice, all of it shaped by warm-biscuit oak. The palate has gentle clarity: the length of flavor is very long, but the intensity of this vintage has been turned down. It was an interesting year…

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Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Tyson Stelzer, Top 250 Wines of 2024

A singularity of black- and redcurrant and cassis defines a monumental Moss Wood of stellar definition and endurance, yet somehow at the same time alluringly silky, slippery and polished to the nth degree. Super-fine tannins unite top shelf fruit with classy oak structure, impeccably resolved, carrying a finish of effortless line and length. Drink 2031-2051…

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Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Huon Hooke, The Real Review

Medium-deep and very bright red with a strong tinge of purple, but it’s not a very deep colour for cabernet. The bouquet is fresh and red fruit driven with mulberry, violet aromas, mixed dried herbs and fragrant spices. The wine is medium-full bodied, not big but supremely elegant and fine-boned. Impeccable balance and impressive palate…

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Moss Wood 2021 Cabernet Sauvignon – Cassandra Charlick, Wine Pilot

95% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc, 1% Petit Verdot, with a detailed French oak regime. I can resist everything but temptation, or so said Mr Wilde. Place a glass of this in front of you and resistance is futile. Juicy and jewel like, the nose leaps with dusty rose, raspberry leaf, black florals and red…

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Tasting Notes

The wine has lifted ripe, mulberry, blackcurrant and cedary oak aromas while on the palate it is initially soft and generous with impressive weight, intense cassis flavours with lightly earthy overtones, big but supple and well-balanced tannins on a long, lingering aftertaste. It is was surprisingly approachable on release and could be enjoyed for its intense fruitiness and power. We believe it will eventually be ranked with the 1991, 1990, 1985, 1983, 1980, 1976 and 1975 wines.

Vintage Notes

The 1994 vintage at Moss Wood produced a crop that was ever so slightly larger than average. The growing season had been particularly good with consistently mild weather in the months before February which was quite warm and ripened the Cabernet nicely. Picking of this variety started on time on 18th March (at 12.7  beaume) and finished on 14th April (at 13.7  beaume) giving the wine an alcoholic content of 13.8%. Picking can be a juggling act at Moss Wood between the competing demands of finding space in the winery and beating the marauding birds. Prior to 1994, the old block had been the last area pruned each year and, because of its south-east aspect, it had been the slowest to ripen. An experiment to prune this Cabernet block first during the preceding winter enabled the grapes to ripen earlier than usual, before the birds did any damage. The later pruned sections, more isolated from the birds, ripening later and with less damage, allowed us to make more of the precious Cabernet. It is such a pleasure not to waste it on birds. This same action produced similar results for 1995 and 1996.

Production Notes

The 1994 has maintained good colour since early in the fermentation process. The wine was left in contact with its skins for nine days during which time it was hand plunged three or four times a day. All pressings were included in the blend which was aged in 55% new French oak for a year. After this it was given a light, egg-white fining, then filtered and bottled.

We like the wine very much and are particularly taken by its ripe, generous characters and the way the oak sits softly under the powerful fruit.

Cellaring Notes

Like all Moss Wood Cabernets, it will improve over the next seven years and can be cellared for between ten and fifteen years.