Tasting Notes: A flavourful and intense Chardonnay, with lovely ginger and orange zest notes and nectarine flavours. A vintage to age, and to drink straight away.
REVIEWS:
Richard Hemming MW, Jancis Robinson - 16.5 Points. Divine combination of smoke, spice and struck match. The leesy character on the nose, very stylish and potent. Long, fragrant finish that reminds me a bit of washing powder, oddly! Tense and lengthy, with lots of chewy texture.
Ned Goodwin, James Suckling, 93 Points A sleek, mid-weighted & very contemporary chardonnay, embellishing a pungent mineral chassis with roasted cashew, nougat and curdy creaminess. Vanilla-cedar oak, an integrated framework. Apricot pith, white peach and nectarine, too. The acidity, palpably natural of feel and really juicy, towing impressive length. One of the better recent iterations of this rightly popular cuvee.
Shanteh Wale, The Wine Pilot, 95 Points. It's always great to see the incarnation of M3. I tend to think of this wine in a similar vein to how Champagne houses exemplify their non vintage champagne. An apex wine of the brand but like with all great Maisons this wine continues to evolve and transcend with each vintage. The 2022 vintage encompasses an intensity to the fruit with slick and schmick oak in support. Wild jasmine, honeysuckle, lemonade fruit and yellow nectarines. Baked peach cobbler and candied ginger lolly. This is the self confident salesman in the room and I'm buying every word he says. Impossible not to find this absolutely delicious, no matter how hard you try. So stop trying. Give in, roll over and submit. They have done it again! Utterly bedazzling and with elegance and watertight foundations. Drink now, put some away for a rainy day. Drink with a whole lobster served in its shell and be cavalier about it.
Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review, 94 Points. This a great M3, albeit in a rather tightly focused cool year style. It’s only going to get better and better too. Barrel fermented and spends nine months in oak this vintage. Excellent expression is what wins the race for me here – a little nougat, a little milk bottle reduction but fruit, too, complemented by vanilla bean oak. It doesn’t feel ungenerous, even if the palate has a little youthful rawness. Cool, in the just-ripe white peach mode, with these perfect lines, the palate growing and growing, even if the acidity feels a bit abrupt (a little more malo wouldn’t go astray). Classy, superb Chardonnay regardless. Best drinking: next year, and for a decade no problem.
Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal, 95 Points. Pale colour. Lovely white peach, nectarine, grapefruit tonic water aromas with grilled nut, hint marzipan notes. Delicious drinking wine with plentiful peach, nectarine, apricot flavours, fine chalky textures, classical creamy notes and underlying marzipan, hint vanilla notes. This is a text book modern Adelaide Hills Chardonnay; not a long term keeper but it's brilliantly balanced and ready to enjoy. Like Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, M3 has become a classic wine of first resort with buyers wanting consistency and reliability. Drink now – or keep for a while.
About Shaw and Smith: To make exciting, refined wines exclusively from the Adelaide Hills that reflect our sites and climate. Vineyards: Shaw + Smith own three vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, at Balhannah, Lenswood and Piccadilly, totalling 59 hectares. The vineyards are planted to varieties that perform particularly well in the region, namely Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz
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