Moss Wood 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon

CCI Part B 2010

Wine Facts

Blend: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit verdot,

Harvested: 5/3/2007
Bottled: 20/12/2009
Released: 30/4/2010
Yield: 7.52 t/ha
Baume: 13.80
Alcohol: 14.50%
Vintage Rating: 9/10

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

Colour and condition – deep brick red hue, in bright condition

Nose – very typical Cabernet Sauvignon fruit aromas. Red currant, mulberry, dark chocolate combine with a background of charry oak, cigar box and spice. It is worth noting the wine’s concentration is such that it can take several minutes to unfold. We recommend allowing it to breathe.

Palate – the immediate impression is one of full-bodied, mouth-filling red and blue fruit flavours, giving a luxurious feel. Although the phenolics are firm they are more than balanced by the juicy concentration, so texture is smooth. Length and persistence of the flavours are enhanced by charry oak notes that leave gentle, slightly bituminous tannins on the finish.

Vintage Notes

Moss Wood 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon - is it 1976 re-visited? When Keith started at Moss Wood for the 1979 vintage, it was an exciting time in the Margaret River region. Although the wine industry was tiny and very much in its infancy, armed with the scientific backing of Dr. John Gladstones, the new vignerons were filled with optimism about the future. The sky was the limit as far as wine style and quality were concerned and the new producers had a blank canvas upon which to work. Of course, there were many wines from around the world that were seen as benchmarks but the youth of the local industry meant the boundaries were not limited by any historical bias. This fertile environment fostered numerous discussions with the then owners, Bill and Sandra Pannell, about what style they should pursue for their fledgling wines. It was not uncommon for these to progress outside Moss Wood and there were many robust debates with the other new growers. The wine styles we now know as typical Margaret River were forged in part by the splendidly argued cases (with thanks to Sir Humphrey Appleby) presented by our neighbours Tom Cullity, David Gregg, and Kevin and Di Cullen among many others. Each producer sought to make a wine of significant quality that could make its way on the world stage and at the same time would be an expression of their vineyards and the region. At Moss Wood, we put significant effort into developing an appropriate style for each of our varieties but the Cabernet Sauvignon, being the first wine, was our primary focus at the time. Naturally, we looked to the great wines of Bordeaux for inspiration and carefully examined the style of numerous of that region’s wines in the search for clues. No doubt you can imagine the sheer drudgery of having to spend hour after hour tasting top quality French wine. These are the sacrifices that winemakers have to make! All jokes aside, we were always very much aware that we were making wine in Margaret River and if we wanted to make wines like those of the Medoc, then that’s where we should go. Margaret River’s individual climate meant it would always be different. As luck would have it, our initial vintages had seasonal variations that produced a series of quite distinct styles and this gave the opportunity to debate the benefits and drawbacks of each. It is now a matter of Moss Wood folklore that the vineyard produced what turned out to be three great vintages in a row, 1975, 1976 and 1977 and which became our early benchmarks. The 1975 was admired for its finesse and complexity, the 1976 for its ripe generosity and the 1977 for sharing a bit in common with both its older siblings. The middle wine produced a curious response. It was by far the ripest of the three and had a luxurious feel. The generosity of fruit, with ripe red currant aromas and flavours, was quite remarkable. Certainly it was popular with both consumers and critics alike, who especially liked its seamless tannins. This feature caused much discussion about whether it had the right structure to age well. The wine was so supple and drinkable many doubted its cellaring prospects, including the new winemaker. Over the intervening years the doubters were proven wrong and the 1976 developed in the bottle to become one of the vineyard’s finest. It is interesting to consider the ripeness of the 1976. There has been a tendency in recent times, perhaps in response to the production in Australia of some very ripe wines, with alcohol often exceeding 15% alcohol, to look back fondly to earlier times, when good wines were made with lower alcohols. As is often the case, these generalisations are not really true. Despite being made over 30 years ago, the 1976 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon had 14.3% alcohol and was never considered “hot”or “flabby” and went on to develop excellent character after cellaring. Perhaps the key is balance of all features, rather than ripeness alone? We have since made several vintages that have some commonality with the 1976, most recently the 2004 and 2000, although neither of those were quite of the same quality. However, with the 2007 we believe we have a serious rival. After the very mild conditions that prevailed in the previous vintage, it was sheer pleasure to enjoy some consistently warm conditions in 2007. The contrast is quite striking. After being 21 days behind the average harvest date in 2006, the median harvest date for Cabernet Sauvignon was 9th March or 19 days ahead of average. This means our coolest and warmest harvest dates are separated by a whopping 41 days, or effectively 6 weeks. From the winemaker’s perspective, there’s no doubt about which season we would prefer. So long as we don’t get extreme heat, causing quality problems like sunburn, we’ll take a warm year, like 2007, anytime. In fact, when we look at the time taken for the grapes to go from flowering to harvest, it was not as warm a season as its dates suggest. For example, the block we call the “Short Rows” took 114 days to complete this period, only 4 days behind the average of 118, so this suggests the early harvest was as much a product of an early budburst as it was hot days during summer. We can speculate that this shows up in the quality of the wine because it is a finer wine than we would expect in a warm season. Other aspects of the season were also favourable. There were no problems with disease, the birds were controlled by the application of nets and yields were good. The warmth of the season meant the vines had ample opportunity to ripen the crop, regardless of yield. However, for the record, Cabernet Sauvignon, at Moss Wood, averages of 7.52 tonnes per hectare and in 2007 the yield was 7.4. Petit Verdot yielded 5.66 tonnes per hectare as compared with its average of 5.88 and Cabernet Franc produced 6.82 tonnes per hectare compared with its long term yield of 6.78.

Production Notes

Median Harvest Dates:

Cabernet Sauvignon – 9th March, 2007

Petit Verdot – 17th March, 2007

Cabernet Franc – 6th March, 2007

Harvest Ripeness:

Cabernet Sauvignon – 13.8 Be

Petit Verdot – 14.3 Be

Cabernet Franc – 13.5 Be

With these figures, it’s easy to see that all the varieties were fully ripe when picked and this is a further pointer to the wine style. Each one produced its classic and distinct, dark berry notes. The Cabernet Sauvignon has rich red currant notes, the Petit Verdot has bright confectionery notes and the Cabernet Franc is all cherries and summer pudding. The technique of production was typical for Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon and follows our traditional approach. With each batch the fruit is destemmed into open, stainless steel fermenters, seeded with a pure yeast culture and allowed to ferment at temperatures up to 30C. Extraction of colour and flavour is by hand plunging up to 4 times per day for the first 72 hours, dropping to once per day by completion of fermentation. Skin contact time varied from 7 to 13 days and each batch was drained and pressed once the correct tannin balance had been achieved. After pressing, the wine underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel tanks and was then racked into barrels. All the casks were 225 litre French oak and 55% were new. Apart from a racking at the end of the first year, the wine stayed in barrel until November 2009 after which it was blended and fining trials were carried out to review tannin balance. After looking at the effect of various agents we decided the wine could not be improved and no fining was carried out. The wine was then sterile filtered and bottled on 21st December 2009.

Cellaring Notes

Cellaring – this is a very attractive and drinkable vintage and it will certainly provide enjoyable early drinking. However, using the 1976 vintage as our example, we strongly recommend that those who have the opportunity to cellar the wine should do so. It will take at least 10 years to develop some bottle age characters and will probably reach its peak somewhere around 20 years old. However, it should continue to be drinkable up to 30 years old, at least and especially for those bottles under screw cap.