Moss Wood 1997 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Facts

Harvested: 18/3/1997
Bottled: 18/8/1999
Released: 2/7/2000
Yield: 7.00 t/ha
Baume: 13.60
Alcohol: 14.00%
Vintage Rating: 8/10

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – Ciao Magazine, Winsor Dobbin

If you have a special occasion to celebrate, or someone who deserves a treat then this excellent Bordeaux-style blend would be an excellent choice if you have cash to splash. From one of the best producers in Margaret River this is a complex and rewarding wine that would grace any dinner party. Think complexity, intensity,…

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Moss Wood 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon – The Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin

I taste in batches of six, pouring each glass, gassing the bottles and working my way through the flight. Today, this 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon was poured in glass number five, and so it has had some time to breathe. Upon pouring, the nose was so abundantly, luxuriatingly steeped in graphite, fresh lead pencil (a smell…

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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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Tasting Notes

The 1997 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon has attractive mulberry and redcurrant perfumes with overtones of spicy, charry oak. Its palate is smooth, round and generous, with rich, sweet fruit, mulberry, plum and mint characters and some tarry earthiness. Although having the body and structure to age, it has the fruit weight and concentration of flavour which enables its tannins to appear soft and neatly balanced. We are particularily pleased with the wine.

Vintage Notes

After the difficulties of the vintage, the 1997 Moss Wood Cabernet is something of a surprise packet. The spring of 1996 was as severe a test of the Margaret River vigneron's patience and optimism as that of 1980 which preceded the 1981 vintage. The vines were subjected to terrible wind and hail damage during spring. This miserable cold, windy and rainy season saved its worst for the hail storm of December 11th which cleaned out the Moss Wood pinot and one third of the cabernet block. The change from cold to warm conditions came on overnight (on New Year's Eve) when the cold and windy December 30th (with its maximum of 22 degrees C) was transformed into a sunny, windless 36 degrees C day before a 40.5 degrees C New Year's Day. On the following day, it was 34 degrees C by 8.30am and only an early sea breeze kept the maximum temperature to 38 degrees C. The warm spell continued until mid January at which time it eased a little. The weather had turned again by the end of January and it rained as the pinot was about to be picked in early February.

After this topsy turvy growing season, the Margaret River area was blessed by lovely weather until mid April. Come picking time, however, it seemed that everyone was irritable. The pickers because it was harder to fill buckets with so small a crop: the winery team because we didn't have as much fruit as needed. The vineyard area that had produced 91 tonnes in 1991 only yielded 50 tonnes in 1997. Despite all the vagaries of the season, quality was not an issue. The difficulties of spring reminded us of 1981 and 1986 with their reduced crops. However the wine is not as tannic as the 1981 (which still shows a powerful steely structure) nor the 1986 (which appears dense, full bodied and strongly tannic).

 

Production Notes

The 1997 Cabernet was made according to what has become established practice at Moss Wood. The fruit was picked, crushed, de-stemmed and tipped into open tanks after which it was seeded with pure yeast culture. Fermentation took place over seven days at high temperatures (reaching a maximum of 30 degrees C). During this time, the juice remained on its skins and was hand plunged four times a day. Towards the end of the fermentation process, each batch was pumped over once to improve colour and remove any hydrogen sulphide.

It was settled in stainless steel tanks and left on its gross lees so that it could complete its malolactic fermentation. After that it was transferred into barrels (50% new French oak and 50% two and three year old barrels) at the end of May. After a leisurely two years, it was racked from the barrels in June 1999, bottled in July to be released onto the market a year later. This is the third year in which Moss Wood has made all of its Cabernet according to the style kept for its Reserve wines before 1995. It is now allowed two years in barrel (rather than 18 months) and 12 (rather than 6) months for bottle maturation. We are looking for complexity - some smokey, tarry, earthy secondary or developed characters from the longer oak ageing - and is not concerned if some of the wine's fresh, fruity primary characters are subdued by the process.

Cellaring Notes

Many will enjoy its early drinkability. However, we, are confident that it has the potential to benefit from up to fifteen years cellaring.