Moss Wood 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon

Wine Facts

Harvested: 19/3/2002
Bottled: 28/8/2004
Released: 30/6/2005
Yield: 8.50 t/ha
Baume: 13.30
Alcohol: 14.00%
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 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon has fresh berry fruit aromas of raspberry, mulberry and redcurrant that combine with cherry, spicy oak and cedar with leaf overtones. There are also hints of coffee bean, chocolate and eucalypt.

The theme of lively fruit characters continues on the palate with lifted mulberry and redcurrant fruit flavours combining with full to medium body, giving quite long and generous depth and texture. The tannin structure is firm, combining grape and oak tannins that give weight and structure to the mid and back palate. The fnish is soft spicy and smoky oak flavours.

Overall, the wine has firm acid and tannin which is balanced by reasonable fruit characters that belie the cool nature of the season.

Vintage Notes

The growing season in 2002 was very mild and was therefore especially good for the white varieties, making wines with lively fruit aromas on the nose and crisp, lifted acidity on the palate.

For the red varieties, the early ripening Pinot Noir and Merlot made exceptional wines but for Cabernet Sauvignon it was more difficult. These wines were slow to reach full flavour maturity although full sugar ripeness was achieved and so the wines have lively acidity balanced by good weight from alcohol.

Production Notes

The production of this wine has become pretty much routine for at Moss Wood. The Delta E2 was used to destem the berries without crushing the grapes - to keep tannin extraction to a minimum. Fermentation was activated by pure yeast culture and took place at the usual warm temperatures - up to 32 degrees celcius. Each fermentation vat was hand plunged four times a day and the wine was left on skins for between 10 to 14 days after fermentation. As usual, the decision about how long to leave it on skins was made by tasting the wine daily.

After that, it was pressed and placed into barrel (50% new French oak, 50% two year old) for two years with all the pressings included in the finished wine. At the beginning of July 2004, it was racked into tank for assemblage and filtered (but not fined) before being bottled in August 2004 and then rested for a year before release.

As with the 2001, 70% of that vintage has been sealed under the Stelvin closure.

The blend for the 2002 Moss Wood Cabernet was cabernet sauvignon (93%), cabernet franc (3%) and petit verdot (4%), which has been standard since 1997. There are such small amounts of cabernet franc and petit verdot at Moss Wood that, if good enough (and they invariably are), go into the wine as they add some pleasing complexity.

Cellaring Notes

Wines of a similar style in the past include the 1982 and 1993 vintages, both of which have continued to age well, and on that basis the 2002 has good ageing potential.

Recommended cellaring time is 15 years, with a minimum of 10 years.