WTN: Moss Wood Cabernet Sauvignon (Special Reserve) 1983

A recent auction purchase, this outstanding Cabernet revealed a rusty brown meniscus gradating to a deep ruby core. The nose fluctuated like a flukey sea breeze, but delivered, at various stages, very sound aged notes of dusty black currants, capsicum, old books, a mix of sandalwood and cedar, sweet earth, mixed dried herbs and a top note of spice box. The palate even more impressive offering fresher flavours of plum, blackcurrant, autumn leaves, some cigar box and minerals. There's a healthy dose of savoury oak adding weight on the palate and lovely bright acids caress the tip of the tongue. The tannin regime is fully mature with only a skerrick of grip remaining with the finish suitably impressive revealing astute length and, remarkably, a degree of freshness. My initial score of 91 now seems somewhat stingey ..... I'll give it 93 - it's improving all the time as it sits in the glass and went incredibly well with home-made spaghetti bolognase earlier this evening. Great job, Keith Mugford - this is a ripper Margaret River red!

Sounds my sort of wine apart from the healthy dose of savoury oak, which surely ought to have disappeared after 27 years. My chances of finding it here are many times worse than zero and about zero even in London.

Did you see my post expressing disappointment about the boring plushness of a Leeuwin Art Series Cab 1998? I liked them much better at a time when they were being marked down by Oz critics for leanness and greenness.

I believe the Special Reserve sees a lot more new oak than the standard Moss Wood, Tim. Perhaps that's why it's still prominant. Don't think they've done any Reserves for quite some years now.

Re the Leeuwin. I was another "one" who couldn't handle the underripe characters of LEAS Cabernets. Hence, gave up on their Cabernet years ago. If they've gone too far the other way, I'll still be giving them a miss! LOL. Half gone off their Art Series Chardonnay, too. Too alcoholic and too oaky for me. The "big boys" can love it to death, AFAIAC. Cape Mentelle, Voyager Estate, Pierro, Devil's Lair, even Howard Park are (mostly) more to my taste these days (and mostly significantly less expensive than the LEAS, although the Pierro is up there).

Thanks for your interest and comments.