The Auswine Forum

1985 Moss Wood Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon
12.5% A/V. Excellent cork – very long and extracted in one piece and barely stained. Brick red but centre is dark red and translucent in body. Excellent. Bouquet is subtle, with aromas of sweet blackcurrant and bitter dark chocolate (like Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate). Not very developed or complex but quite elegant. Palate possesses quite good balance. Solid framework and excellent texture with full flavours across the spectrum. Finishes slightly bitter and length is slightly short to be outstanding. However, lovely integration of components and still very primary but hard to ascertain further improvement. In short, a beautiful elegant style in almost complete harmony. Indeed, an old wine (for Australia) defying showing old wine characters. One of the most revered Moss Wood vintages and it delivers after 20 years.
91/100

Danny,

Last one knocked off end of last year but there was no "hardness" on it so - not surprisingly at this age - a bit of bottle variation.

Unlike the Pannells I preferred the 1983 which always seemed to be the epitome of MR CS (but 95, 99 & 01 are all potential players - and 91 is drinking pretty well now).

The 85 had lovely structure but was surprisingly approachable early(whereas the 84 was MUCH earlier drinking - a lunchtime quaffer for a few years!), while the 83 really needed time.

fred