Moss Wood 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon
Wine Facts
| Harvested: | 27/3/2000 |
| Bottled: | 5/8/2002 |
| Released: | 30/6/2003 |
| Yield: | 10.00 t/ha |
| Baume: | 14.00 |
| Alcohol: | 14.50% |
| Vintage Rating: | 10/10 |
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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….
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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…
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….
Tasting Notes
The Moss Wood 2000 Cabernet Sauvignon is wonderfully fragrant with redcurrant, spice and cedary oak perfumes; is soft, round and velvety textured; has ripe, rich and concentrated sweet cassis, mulberry and cedar flavours and a lovely fleshy finish. This is an elegant wine that has the tightness of structure, impressive weight, bold vibrant characters, and restrained, fine, silky tannins to ensure that it ages well, while having an approachability and a suppleness to make it appealing when young.
Vintage Notes
There was a good growing season for the 2000 vintage in Margaret River. It started with mild to warm conditions up to Christmas, the hottest day of the year on New Year's Eve, and a January that was not as hot as December had been. There was significant rainfall in the third week of January which the vines soaked up and so remained stress free until harvest. Although the rain did cause downy mildew in some local vineyards, Moss Wood was not affected. One direct consequence of the downpour was that crop levels were higher than expected. The 2000 Semillon is one of the best ever, and we believe that the same is true of the Cabernet.
We see the 2000 as being closest in character to the 1980 and the 1990 Cabernets and, in some ways, a combination of the two. There were differences from the earlier vintages. There was more rainfall during the 1990 growing season. Although there was a similar amount in 1980, it came later. In all three cases, we see the wines as soft and fruity with generous flavours and gentle, fine tannins.
Production Notes
The new machine, the Delta E2 Destemmer, involves no crushing of the grapes. It destems the berries and transfers them whole, plus some juice, by conveyor belt into the fermentation tanks. The destemming means that a minimal amount of tannin is extracted. Given the 28 year difference in their age and the fact that the Delta E2 is made of stainless steel, it is scarcely surprising that the new machine is much easier to clean and so already well loved by winery staff.
The other major difference with the 2000 wine is that it was the second - and last - Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon in which fermentation was triggered spontaneously by strains of wild yeast.
Apart from that, production followed the traditional Moss Wood approach. Fermentation took place at warm temperatures - up to 32° Celcius. During the process, hand plunging took place four times a day. Each batch was left on skins after fermentation for between 10 and 14 days, depending on taste. After that, it was pressed and placed into barrel (50% new oak) for two years. All pressings were included in the finished wine. It was taken out of oak in July 2002, and filtered (but not fined) and bottled in August.
It was the first Moss Wood wine to be bottled partially under Stelvin (screw caps) ensuring that those bottles are not affected by cork taint. We are committed to bottling more and more using Stelvin caps. We plan to move from 200 cases of the 2000 Cabernet to 1,500 cases for the 2001. With the current vintage, Stelvin will be used for comparative tastings to show its value as a closure.