Shaw and Smith M3 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2019 is no longer available

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Shaw and Smith M3 Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2019

White Wine from Australia - South Australia

1 Reviews

At our 2021 Wine Champions tasting this completed a hat-trick of Adelaide Hills chardonnay Champions, ‘M3’ is made in a richer and more generous style with classic oak-begotten structure conducting the fruit. Lovers of this style are in for a treat.

is no longer available

Code: AU23661

Wine characteristics

White Wine
2 - Dry
Chardonnay
Now to 2030
13.5% Alcohol
oak used but not v. noticeable
Screwcap

South Australia

South Australia (SA) is Australia's wine heartland, producing most of the country's wine and boasting some of its oldest vines. The dry, hot climate ripens grapes fully, making bold, dense and concentrated wines.

The Barossa Valley has a rich viticultural history with patches of bush-trained vines, many more than 100 years old. It is first and foremost a red wine region. Shiraz is king but cabernet sauvignon, grenache and mourvèdre play an important part, too.

Close to the Barossa is the Eden Valley, a windswept series of elevated hills producing exceptional shiraz and floral riesling. Just north of the Barossa is the Clare Valley, which represents Australia's pinnacle for riesling, where elevated vineyards temper the intense heat, producing dry whites of immense class and purity. The region's powerful and muscular reds can be outstanding too.

On the coast south of Adelaide is McLaren Vale, which vies with Barossa to be SA's best red-wine region. The climate is warm enough to...

South Australia (SA) is Australia's wine heartland, producing most of the country's wine and boasting some of its oldest vines. The dry, hot climate ripens grapes fully, making bold, dense and concentrated wines.

The Barossa Valley has a rich viticultural history with patches of bush-trained vines, many more than 100 years old. It is first and foremost a red wine region. Shiraz is king but cabernet sauvignon, grenache and mourvèdre play an important part, too.

Close to the Barossa is the Eden Valley, a windswept series of elevated hills producing exceptional shiraz and floral riesling. Just north of the Barossa is the Clare Valley, which represents Australia's pinnacle for riesling, where elevated vineyards temper the intense heat, producing dry whites of immense class and purity. The region's powerful and muscular reds can be outstanding too.

On the coast south of Adelaide is McLaren Vale, which vies with Barossa to be SA's best red-wine region. The climate is warm enough to guarantee lush, chocolatey reds from shiraz, grenache and cabernet, while its strong maritime influence invests elegance in chardonnay, viognier and marsanne. Nearby Langhorne is cooled by the lake and nearby sea, and grows grapes of very good quality at a low cost. These excellent-value wines are marked by a softness and fullness of flavour. The Adelaide Hills area east of the city are cool and provide the perfect ingredients for lemony sauvignon blanc and chardonnay. Coonawarra, further south-east behind the Limestone Coast, is South Australia's leading cabernet region, the unique terra rossa soil and maritime influence producing grapes with intense flavours and fabulous structure.

Cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith decided to make wine together over a long lunch in 1989. Both had already established a fine reputation within the Australian wine industry: Martin worked with the legendary Brian Croser at Petaluma and consults around the globe, while Michael Hill-Smith was the first Australian to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams in 1988 having grown up as part of the Yalumba clan in the Barossa.

They are based in the rolling Adelaide Hills, part of the Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide, where they own several vineyards in a wine region that is cooler than most in Australia. Up in these hills temperatures are lower on average than many areas of South Australia by about 4 degrees centigrade during the day and 8 degrees at night; music to a winemaker’s ears if trying to make wines of purity and balance.

That sauvignon blanc is one of the grape varieties upon which they have focused much of their attention amply illustrates the kind of wine they are seeking to make in these fresher climes and they have produced what many consider to be Australia’s finest example, leaner and less pungent than , say, Marlborough sauvignon. 'Martin would trade herbaceousness for palate length every day of the week’ said Michael in a Decanter interview a few years ago. Chardonnay, shiraz and pinot noir are the other varieties made in styles that seek to reflect the quality of their Adelaide Hills fruit, all elegance and poise, but without losing sight ...

Cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith decided to make wine together over a long lunch in 1989. Both had already established a fine reputation within the Australian wine industry: Martin worked with the legendary Brian Croser at Petaluma and consults around the globe, while Michael Hill-Smith was the first Australian to pass the rigorous Master of Wine exams in 1988 having grown up as part of the Yalumba clan in the Barossa.

They are based in the rolling Adelaide Hills, part of the Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide, where they own several vineyards in a wine region that is cooler than most in Australia. Up in these hills temperatures are lower on average than many areas of South Australia by about 4 degrees centigrade during the day and 8 degrees at night; music to a winemaker’s ears if trying to make wines of purity and balance.

That sauvignon blanc is one of the grape varieties upon which they have focused much of their attention amply illustrates the kind of wine they are seeking to make in these fresher climes and they have produced what many consider to be Australia’s finest example, leaner and less pungent than , say, Marlborough sauvignon. 'Martin would trade herbaceousness for palate length every day of the week’ said Michael in a Decanter interview a few years ago. Chardonnay, shiraz and pinot noir are the other varieties made in styles that seek to reflect the quality of their Adelaide Hills fruit, all elegance and poise, but without losing sight of intensity.

Martin, with the help of Adam Sadewitz, makes the wines while Michael evangelises about them around the world. They built a state of the art winery, cellars and offices, to a contemporary design, in 2000 and took the opportunity to incorporate the same environmentally aware philosophy they have always employed in the vineyards into the nuts and bolts of the heavily insulated buildings, including reduced water use, collecting rainwater and treating waste from the site, and they are pioneers of a state-wide initiative to monitor greenhouse emissions.

In 2011 they purchased the Tolpuddle Vineyards near Richmond in Tasmania, planted with 20 hectares of mature pinot noir and chardonnay. The vineyard takes its name from the Tolpuddle Martyrs, 19th century pioneers of the trade union movement who were transported to Australia in punishment for their activities. The leader of the Martyrs, George Loveless, served part of his sentence working on land that is now embraced by the vineyards. Light soils and a cool, dry climate produce intensely flavoured grapes with bright acidity, perfect for premium pinot noir and chardonnay production.

Itâ€™s hard to give a blanket picture of how Australia has done in any particular vintage as, frankly, itâ€™s huge! Regional variation notwithstanding, 2019 generally looks good in most regions after an excellent 2018. Drought, though, continued to be a problem, and rising temperatures in places such as McLaren Vale mean that alcohol levels are only going in one direction.

However, I would urge members not to base their view of the entirety of Australia on what is going on in Barossa or McLaren Vale. 2019 in Margaret River produced some excellent wines and this continues to be a world-class region for elegant, silky and delicious cabernet-based wines. Tasmania, Yarra and Mornington Peninsula have also shone in the 2019 vintage and demonstrate how fantastic Australia is for cooler-climate winemaking. Thanks to Margaret River and Mornington Peninsulaâ€™s sea influence (therefore keeping temperatures cooler) and the microclimates of Yarra Valley and Tasmania, these regions are set to...

Itâ€™s hard to give a blanket picture of how Australia has done in any particular vintage as, frankly, itâ€™s huge! Regional variation notwithstanding, 2019 generally looks good in most regions after an excellent 2018. Drought, though, continued to be a problem, and rising temperatures in places such as McLaren Vale mean that alcohol levels are only going in one direction.

However, I would urge members not to base their view of the entirety of Australia on what is going on in Barossa or McLaren Vale. 2019 in Margaret River produced some excellent wines and this continues to be a world-class region for elegant, silky and delicious cabernet-based wines. Tasmania, Yarra and Mornington Peninsula have also shone in the 2019 vintage and demonstrate how fantastic Australia is for cooler-climate winemaking. Thanks to Margaret River and Mornington Peninsulaâ€™s sea influence (therefore keeping temperatures cooler) and the microclimates of Yarra Valley and Tasmania, these regions are set to become increasingly important and worth following.