2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon

2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon

98 pts
Moss Wood |Margaret River |Cabernet Sauvignon
A benchmark Margaret River Cabernet that combines power, finesse, and serious aging potential, marking 50 years of quiet excellence from Moss Wood.
5.0
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
1 Review
Price:
$145.00
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In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Moss Wood’s flagship Cabernet Sauvignon is about as iconic as it gets in Australian wine, and the 2022 vintage feels like a real milestone - fitting, given it’s the 50th release. Coming from the original Wilyabrup vineyard, this is classic Moss Wood through and through: deeply coloured, pure-fruited, and built to last.

The growing season threw up its fair share of challenges - heavy rains early on, then serious heat around Christmas, followed by a cooler finish in March. Yields were down, but the fruit that made it through came in with great concentration and balance. The wine spent its usual long stretch in French oak, but the oak’s kept firmly in the background here, letting all that dark fruit, bay leaf, and subtle spice really shine.

What’s always impressive with Moss Wood is the balance: power and depth, but also freshness and lift that keep it precise and age-worthy. It’s drinking well now with a good decant but is really built for the long haul - 25 years plus if you’ve got the patience.

98 points
"A wine of immense charm and appeal. I defy you to stop after the first sip."
- Ray Jordan

98 points
"Utterly seamless and seductive... A superb Cabernet."
- Ken Gargett (Wine Pilot)

96+ points
"A powerhouse Moss Wood Cabernet... Outstanding."
- Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)
Ryan Montgomery

Ryan Montgomery

James Suckling 96 Points

Plush, perfumed aromas of red and black currants, black cherries, spices, graphite, purple flowers, crushed blackberries and violets. Finely tuned tannins and bright acidity lead into a midweight, fruit-driven palate with almost silky texture and no heaviness. Tightly wound with some early-drinking generosity and plenty of polish. 92% cabernet sauvignon, 4% petit verdot and 4% cabernet franc. Excellent. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

98 points - "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 an engine room that is balanced and poised as the tannins and almost lyrically laid oak harness the exquisitely bright fruit. So well balanced. A wine of immense charm and appeal. I defy you to stop after the first sip." - Ray Jordan

98 points - "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 well, though, with a longer than average ripening period. Yields were down but in the end, some stellar fruit was harvested. Maturation was in French oak, 16% new, for around seventeen months. A deep maroon hue, there are notes of spices, herbs, black fruits, cloves, cassis, graphite, chocolate and tobacco leaves. A touch of biscuity oak, very well integrated, this is a wine of focus and intensity, and at all times it is immaculately balanced. Utterly seamless and seductive, there is a line of fine acidity running the full journey and the silkiest of tannins on the finish. This will easily sail through the next fifteen to twenty years, providing immense pleasure along the way. A superb Cabernet." - Ken Gargett (Wine Pilot)

97 points - "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 so potent and specific and good), forest floor and pure, summer raspberry. After 20 minutes or so in the glass, the oak has begun to recede, and the fruit is swelling up. The 2022 season in Margaret River was warm, dry and early, and the quality of the Cabernets (particularly) was stellar. While the oak is a feature at this stage, the fruit is so sensationally poised and powerful that this will be a super superstar in the decades to come. We know that the old Moss Woods prevail even now—corks willing—and so aided and abetted by modern screw caps, these wines will patiently plod through the coming decades with ease. This is one of Australia's most collected/cellared premium wines for a reason. 14% alcohol, sealed under screw cap." - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)

97 points - "Youthful, bright red and dark in the glass. Complex aromas of blackberry, graphite, bramble, wet gravel, cedar, violets, dried herbs and dark cherry. Poised, fine and precise in flavour. Lively and textured, with a core of briary black fruits, grainy, chalky tannins, a touch of ferrous earth and punchy, snappy acidity. There’s lovely complexity, sophistication and class here." - Aaron Brasher (The Real Review)

97 points - "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 dam – the flavour and shape swooshes through and it’s heart stopping. Tannins are incredibly fine and silken, so much so that they are almost indistinguishable, and acidity just trips along lightly. This has impeccable structure behind the intensity of fruit. A true sum of its parts, juicy and structured, fluid and effortless. An energetic Cabernet that displays an honest exuberance in its youth, yet will age with serious intention." - Cassandra Charlick (Decanter)

96+ points - "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, nutmeg, dried flower perfume, tobacco, and damp earth. It sweeps though the palate with grilled nuts, toast, fresh blackberry, a whole lot of sweet grainy tannin and black tea perfume, acidity is balanced and present, and the finish thunders and goes very long. Quite a wine. Outstanding." - Gary Walsh (The Wine Front)

97 points - "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. Powerful and elegant. A wine that’s begging for a decade in the cellar before rewarding in spades over the following 20+. Brilliant." - The Cellar Post

Customer Reviews

5.0
Rated 5.0 out of 5 stars
Based on 1 review
Total 5 star reviews: 1 Total 4 star reviews: 0 Total 3 star reviews: 0 Total 2 star reviews: 0 Total 1 star reviews: 0
1 review
  • KD
    Kieran D.
    Verified Buyer
    Wine Knowledge Level Cork Dork
    3 years ago
    Wine Knowledge Level Cork Dork
    Reviewing
    2020 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon
    Rated 5 out of 5 stars
    First class

    My favourite Cabernet just about in Margs possibly all of australia. This is just as good as 2018

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VINTAGE & PRODUCTION NOTES
2022 Vintage Notes

As we muse over the conditions that prevailed during the 2021-22 growing season, it’s fair to say that Mother Nature displayed her full range of talents.

The calendar year 2021 was extremely wet and Moss Wood recorded 1440mm of rain, which is 40% above average and for the statistically-minded, very interesting because it’s outside 2 standard deviations from the mean. Something was certainly different in 2021.

It gave us one of our latest vintages, courtesy of mild summer temperatures and notable for the above average summer and autumn rainfall, when we received a succession of tropical depressions moving down the WA coast. The damp conditions, with solid rain, continued through the year. When we say solid, that’s exactly what we mean. For example, in July 2021, it rained on 29 of the 31 days and delivered 370mm. Needless to say, the vines began the new season in September, with soil moisture in the vineyard at field capacity, always an important thing for our unirrigated vineyards.

Regular rainfall continued through to the end of October, after which things began to ease. The Cabernet varieties began flowering on 11th November and over the next 4 weeks it rained on only 5 days delivering a total of 15mm. At the same time, there were only 4 days when the temperature dropped below the critical 8°C, with a coldest day of 5.7°C on 15th December.

Taken at face value, these benign conditions suggested we should have had reasonable crops but this wasn’t the case. Cabernet Sauvignon was down 20%, at 5.82t/ha and Cabernet Franc was down 22%, to 4.5t/ha. As usual, Petit Verdot was its usual petulant self and produced a generous 2.33t/ha, down a whopping 55%. Even slightly disruptive conditions send this variety into a temper tantrum and it pays us back with pitiful yields.

An explanation for the above may lie with Mother Nature’s change of heart. With the arrival of Christmas, she decided to flick the switch to hot. On Christmas Day, we enjoyed our turkey lunch with the air conditioner on and 37.6°C outside. A warm night followed, something we don’t often get in Wilyabrup, with a minimum temperature of 20°C and that set the scene for a warm Boxing Day. While we again sat in the air conditioning, this time watching the Test Cricket from Melbourne, the temperature peaked at 2.45pm at 41.2°C, our warmest day since 25th February 1985. Overnight, things cooled to a balmy 24°C and we were starting to wonder when the heat would ease. This it fortunately did, with a maximum temperature that day of 38.6°C and from then on things began to return to normal. This continued until mid-January, when temperatures rose again, this time delivering a maximum of 40.1°C on the 19th. By and large, the remainder of January and February were warm but not too hot. The arrival of March brought autumnal temperatures and ripening began to slow.

Mother Nature had one more card to play, introducing rain into the equation just as the Cabernet varieties were nearing full maturity. This caused a few heart flutters but nothing serious and we got under way on 5th April, picking Moss Wood Cabernet Franc. The impact of the cooler autumn can be seen in the length of the season. Despite the generally warm to hot conditions, Cabernet Sauvignon still took 127 days to go from flowering to harvest, 7 days longer than average, making it a similar season to 2008, although 4 days longer.

All the fruit was hand harvested and delivered to the winery, where it was carefully hand-sorted and destemmed. Each variety was then placed into small, open fermenters and seeded for primary fermentation with multiple yeast strains and hand plunged 3 times per day, for extraction of colour and flavour. Time on skins varied from 13 to 16 days, depending on tannin balance and after pressing, each batch underwent malolactic fermentation in stainless steel before being adjusted and racked to oak in May 2022. All barrels were 228 litre French oak and 16% were new.

In December 2022 all batches were racked and returned to wood for the second year and then in November 2023 all batches were racked again to stainless steel and the wine was blended for the first time. The makeup is 94% Cabernet Sauvignon, 4% Cabernet Franc and 2% Petit Verdot.

The finished blend was returned to wood, where it stayed until October 2024, when all barrels were racked and blended for the final time in stainless steel. Fining trials were carried out but none improved the tannin balance and so the wine remained unfined. It was then sterile filtered and bottled on 25th October, 2024.

In summary, what do we make of the 2022 Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon, the 50th vintage of this wine? Given the milestone, we’re happy and just a bit relieved we’ve been able to deliver a year with all the classic features of the style. The warm season ensured consistent ripeness, so the wine displays the vineyard’s typically dark fruit aromas and the palate certainly has the expected key feature of concentrated but balanced tannin, all enhanced by the prettier fragrances which we attribute to the cooler final weeks in March. Very few have been better.

Tasting Notes
Colour and condition:

Bright condition, deep ruby with purple hues.

Nose:

Bright and lifted aromatics with intense dark fruits of mulberry, blackberry, blueberry and plum. These fruit notes then give way to tobacco leave, cigar box, sage and bay leaf. The oak is subtle and integrated with notes of vanilla bean, cinnamon and cedar.

Palate:

The palate is dense and rich in all of the Cabernet fruit spectrum- blackberry, blueberry, red currants and black cherry. Fresh acidity and violets sit in behind this as well as background notes of nutmeg, clove and earth. Tannins are dense, mouth coating and velvet-like with subtle, dusty oak notes on the finish.

CELLARING
There is no doubt the 2022 vintage takes its place among the finest Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignons, and we have high expectations for its cellaring potential. Thanks to the season’s balance of power and elegance, along with moderate yields, this wine possesses the structure and depth to age gracefully.

We anticipate that a minimum of 10 years will be required to see the first signs of bottle development, with further complexity—cedar, earth, and classic aged Cabernet characters—emerging between 15 and 20 years. However, for those with patience, full maturity will take at least 25 years, and we expect this wine to evolve beautifully for 40 years or more.

Price Bracket $101 and Above
Type Red
Body Full Bodied
Variety Cabernet Sauvignon
Country Australia
Region Margaret River
Australian State WA
Feature High Score
Iconic
Reviewed By The Wine Front
Ray Jordan
Wine Pilot
Decanter
The Wine Advocate
The Real Review
James Suckling
Critic Score 97
96
98
Alcohol 14%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2022
Closure Screw Cap

Moss Wood

Started by the pioneering Bill and Sandra Pannell in 1969, Moss Wood is one of the legendary names in the Australian wine industry, helping establish Margaret River as a world-class wine region.

Located in the northern sub–region of Wilyabrup, current owners Clare & Keith Mugford have been growing the winery's reputation and range since the mid 1980s. The Cabernet Sauvignon is one of Australia's greatest wines, the Chardonnay is exceptional, and the Ribbon Vale range represents excellent value for Margaret River.

Moss Wood vineyards - Margaret River, WA Moss Wood

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