Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2025 Chardonnay
| Wine Facts | |
|---|---|
| Median Harvest Date | 11/03/2025 |
| Harvest Ripeness | 13.2 °Be |
| Yield | 6.37 t/ha |
| Day Elapsed between Flowering and Harvest | 120 days |
| Bottled | 12/01/2026 |
| Released | 27/03/2026 |
| Alcohol | 14.0% |
Wine Facts
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Median Harvest Date
11/03/2025
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Mean Harvest Ripeness
13.2 ⁰ Be
-
Yield
6.37 t/ha
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Day Elapsed between Flowering and Harvest
120 days
-
Bottled
12/01/2026
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Released
30/03/2026
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Alcohol
14.0%
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2025 Chardonnay – The Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin
The 2025 Ribbon Vale Chardonnay opens with white flowers and nuts, pineapple, white peach and brine. In the mouth, the wine is powerful, saline and nutty, with a creamy middle palate and bright acidity. The divide between malolactic fermentation characters and acidity feels balanced and harmonious, while the fruit is…
Moss Wood 2024 Amy’s – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
The 2024 Amy’s is supple, succulent and ultra-attractive. The season was hot, but those who managed it diligently have had good results, as this shows. The wines may not have the longevity of great vintages like 2023 or 2018, but they offer tremendous pleasure early. There are notes of raspberry…
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Merlot – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
The 2023 Ribbon Vale Merlot is gorgeous. It is silky, red-fruited and spicy, with chalky tannins and freshness through the finish. It is light and herbal, without any mintiness or green edges, and the length is laden with paprika dolce and redcurrants. There is also a note of sweet pouch…
Moss Wood 2024 Botrytis Semillon – The Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin
The 2024 Botrytis Semillon leads with honey and lemon curd, honeycomb, pineapple, cut grass and brine-laced acidity that weaves its way in and out of the folds of sweetness. This is very pretty and quite sweet—no surprise, but here I refer to the balance of fruit and acid rather than…
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2025 Elsa – The Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin
The 2025 Elsa is verdant and grassy on the nose, with a framing of toasty, vanilla-bean oak. In the mouth, the wine is rich, powerful and weighty on the palate, with a warming lift of alcohol through the finish that sinks hand-in-glove into the fruit. The acidity feels racy and…
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon – Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was excited about tasting these Moss Wood 2023 releases today. The season in Margaret River was sensational—truly. It was mild and long, with rain at all the right times. There was a spot of rain about at the end of the…
Moss Wood 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon – The Wine Advocate, Erin Larkin
The 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon is powerful and layered, with a long finish. The tannins are firm, abundant and tightly knit, and they wrap around a core of dark fruit. As the wine sits in the glass longer, the tannins begin to soften and gain suppleness, allowing the fruit and other…
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2025 Elsa – Gabrielle Poy, The Real Review
Sweet scents of honey and vanilla mix with lemon meringue pie and roasted fennel on the nose. A luxurious swirl of vanilla, nutmeg and lemon tart (with a dollop of cream) combine on the palate, with subtle savoury notes of leather and fennel joining in too. Its viscous texture tails…
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Merlot – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep, bright red-purple colour; cedary oak, briar and pencil-shavings aromas overlie tobacco varietal cues, while the palate is medium-full bodied and well-balanced, with harmonious supple tannins and lovely early drinking qualities and … ageing potential. Oak is quite evident but it’s a very smart merlot
Moss Wood Ribbon Vale 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Deep, bright purple-red colour; smoked meats and mulberry, a hint of humus on the nose. Very bright and lively on the palate, fresh and zesty with crisp acid/tannin structure and lots of appeal. Will become softer with age but right now its bouncy liveliness would go well with food. 2026–2038…
VINTAGE NOTES
2025 Ribbon Vale Vintage
The 2024/25 growing season at Ribbon Vale progressed steadily and without major disruption, allowing both Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc to ripen in a measured and unforced manner. Calendar year rainfall in 2024 totalled 910mm, below the long-term average of 1012mm, but sufficient to establish adequate soil moisture reserves in this dry-grown vineyard.
Spring conditions were ideal. During flowering, Chardonnay received 14.4mm of rainfall and Sauvignon Blanc 9.4mm. While rainfall at this stage of the season can influence crop levels, these modest falls occurred under otherwise favourable conditions and had no negative impact on fruit set. Final yields reflected this, with Chardonnay cropping at 6.37 tonnes per hectare and Elsa at 7.75 tonnes per hectare.
As the season moved into summer, temperatures remained moderate, with no prolonged heat events. The growing season average temperature for Elsa was 20.42°C, effectively identical to the long-term average of 20.43°C, while Chardonnay recorded a slightly cooler-than-average growing season at 20.07°C compared with its long-term average of 20.36°C.
From the beginning of January through to harvest, 22.8mm of rain was recorded. This modest rainfall ensured the vines were not subject to water stress during the latter part of ripening, while remaining low enough to avoid dilution. Ripening progressed evenly, with Elsa completing its cycle in 101 days from flowering to harvest, closely aligned with its long-term average of 100 days. Ribbon Vale Chardonnay recorded 120 days from flowering to harvest, consistent with its long-term average.
Harvest timing differed slightly between the two wines. Elsa was harvested seven days later than its long-term average, reflecting the even pace of ripening, while Ribbon Vale Chardonnay was harvested two days earlier than average, consistent with timely flavour development.
Taken together, the season was defined by consistency rather than extremes. Favourable spring conditions established solid yields, followed by a mild summer that allowed for steady, uninterrupted ripening. Rainfall was sufficient to support vine function without compromising concentration, and harvest timings were closely aligned with long-term averages. The wines show good balance and structure, in line with what we would expect from these conditions.
PRODUCTION NOTES
All fruit was hand-picked and delivered to the winery, where it was hand-sorted and whole-bunch pressed. The juice was clarified and seeded with multiple yeast strains for primary fermentation, which commenced in stainless steel tanks with temperatures controlled to a maximum of 20°C.
At the halfway point of fermentation, the wine was transferred to 228-litre French oak barriques, 32% of which were new, to complete alcoholic fermentation and malolactic fermentation. Maturation continued in oak for approximately nine months before the wine was racked and blended in stainless steel. Fining trials were conducted, however none were found to be beneficial. The wine was fined with bentonite for protein stability, cold stabilised, sterile filtered and bottled on 12 January 2026.
Tasting Notes
Colour and condition:
Clear and bright condition; pale straw with light golden hues.
Nose:
Lifted aromas of citrus and white peach, supported by preserved lemon, subtle florals and restrained oak influence
Palate:
Medium to full bodied with fine phenolics and fresh acidity. Flavours of stone fruit and citrus are layered with subtle notes of nougat and fresh pastry. The finish is long, composed and well balanced.
Cellaring:
Ribbon Vale Chardonnay is attractive in its youth but clearly structured for extended cellaring. We recommend a minimum of 10 years in bottle, with the potential to develop further complexity over 20 years.