The white wine was nicer

I really like Moss Wood wines when they are young. [link2post id=”623″]Last summer I had a 1999 Cabernet[/link2post] and ageing hadn’t done much for it, so I wasn’t expecting to be wowed by the 2000. I was right.

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Semillon 2000, Moss Wood

A very toasty, buttery nose; if you didn’t know better you’d say it was oaked. It has some lanolin character as well which we are told is supposed to help us blind taste old Semillon. There is a hint of alcoholic warmth to the nose, but when the nose has such scale this doesn’t seem so bad. The palate is weighty with a mouth-filling roundness. I’d say it just about has enough acidity, but it does seem a tad on the blowsy side. There is a lot of ripe lemon fruit here. The finish is a bit hot and short, and there is really not too much in the way of complexity. However, for the very little money this cost me I think it is not such a bad drink. The 9 year ageing experiment was interesting enough as well.

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Cabernet Sauvignon 2000, Moss Wood

A crème de cassis nose, and bloody alcoholic crème de cassis at that; the blackcurrant and booze action here is just bonkers. It is very cedar woody as well. But you’d never guess this as the awful stuff Claret as the alcohol quotient is far too high. This doesn’t really worry me as I expect blood and guts from Australian wines, but what does worry me is how little real fun value there seems to be on the nose. Sure, there is plenty of fruit, wood and alcohol, but it just all seems a tad flat; when it slaps your nasal passages around it does so in a half-hearted sort of way. The palate has plenty of fruit, wood and alcohol as well, but it lacks the all-important acidity so just seems a bit soupy with those super-ripe tannins. The alcohol burn on the finish is a little distracting, too. When I purchased this I thought it was good time Cabernet Sauvignon, with nine years of age it just seems to have lost its vivacious spark. The ageing experiment was not a success with this.