Moss Wood, Cabernet Sauvignon, Margaret River 2022

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.

2022 was a warm, dry and early vintage in Margaret River, one that produced particularly great Cabernets in the region. Here, the 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon is tasted in context with Cabernets going back to the 1970s, and it represents the most recent Cabernet in the history of this estate. It has recently been reviewed, and the score stands true to the wine in the glass today. This is grainy and powerful, ripe and excellent, with fully resolved, pliable tannins and fresh, saline acidity. It's a wine for the future, although it drinks very well now.

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon radiates exceptional purity, offering blackcurrant, warm slate, gravel and earthy aromas. This is a fuller-flavored vintage, yet it retains the estate signature of finesse, with powerful sweet cassis and red earth flavors complemented by a not unwelcome touch of mint. Mid weight and stylish, the wine’s pliable tannins hold the dark berry flavors firm and controlled over an extended finish in a package where overall length and balance are exceptional.