Winemaker Notes
The color is a very youthful brick red and the condition is bright. This wine shows the style of the 2015 vintage and quite likely the impact of the small crop. In such years, Cabernet Sauvignon in particular, has a complex but somewhat subdued nose, where the wine hints of the underlying power and complexity but takes years to reveal its true colors. Smoldering red currant, black currant and mulberry, with a floral, violet lift, sitting over cedar and tar. On the palate there is concentration and length – dark fruits combining with firm tannin and leather and tarry notes.
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
A really stylish and suave cabernet here. This has an array of earthy, leafy and lightly spicy aromas. A mid-weight palate that offers attractive rich flavors amid gently grainy tannins.
-
Wine Enthusiast
This esteemed Margaret River estate first produced a wine from the over 40-year-old Ribbon Vale vineyard in 2013, three years after purchasing the neighboring block. This vintage is shy at first, begging for a decanter. But once it gets air, it positively billows from the glass, with pretty fruit and floral aromas, dried mint, oregano and baking spices. Tannins are powerful and drying yet fine and savory, framing silky juicy fruit. The oak creeps in on the palate, but overall, this is well set up for a long life. Drink 2021–2034.
-
Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2015 Moss Wood Ribbon Vale Cabernet Sauvignon is beautiful and elegant. TASTING NOTES: This wine deftly combines complexity in a stylish package. Enjoy its bright fruit-accented aromas and flavors of black fruit, sandalwood, and savory spices with grilled lamb. (Tasted: February 5, 2019, San Francisco, CA)
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Home to some of Australia’s most elegant and long-lived red and white wines, Margaret River is situated in the farthest reaches of Western Australia. Relatively warm and dry, the region is cooled by breezes from the Indian Ocean. Margaret River takes some inspiration from Bordeaux, producing top-quality Cabernet Sauvignons and Bordeaux Blends with firm structure, mouthwatering acidity, balanced alcohol and notes of herbs and spice. For white wines, refreshing blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon as well as complex, age-worthy Chardonnays are regional specialties.