This is the second amazing Aussie wine from the Liberty Ireland wine tasting earlier this year
Shaw + Smith “M3” Adelaide Hills Chardonnay 2022
Messrs Shaw and Smith are cousins as well as being partners, having joined forced in 1989. Their wines are mainly from the cool climate Adelaide Hills regions, with a newer outpost in the even cooler Tasmania. The varieties they grow are suited to their sites, with Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling the whites and Pinot Noir and Shiraz the reds. For me it’s their Chardonnays which top the bill – this “M3” and the flagship Lenswood Vineyard. “M3” is in quotation marks not just because it’s a name, but the original vineyard from where fruit was sourced has been sold on in favour of sites with different clones and locations. In fact, much of the grapes in M3 now come from the high altitude Lenswood vineyard which S+S bought in 2012, plus their Piccadilly and Lobethal sites.
After hand picking, the grapes are cooled then pressed in whole bunches. The juice is then transferred to French barriques (1/3 new, 2/3 pre-used) to undergo alcoholic and malolactic fermentations. Maturation is over nine months, with some bâtonnage, before blending in steel tanks then bottling.
The 2022 M3 has a fabulously funky nose, yeasty and reductive. Flowers and fresh citrus too. Even smelling it is a treat. The palate has great texture, with creamy notes from MLF and oak. There are stone fruits added to the citrus that comes through from the nose.
For such a young wine this is already showing so well. The price in Ireland has risen somewhat over the last few years (what hasn’t?), but it remains a classy wine and represents good value.
- ABV: 13.0%
- RS: 0.3 g/L
- RRP: €44.99
- Stockists: The Corkscrew, Blackrock Cellar, Fallon & Byrne, Mitchell & Son, wineonline.ie, 64 Wine
- Other Shaw + Smith wines available in Ireland: Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc, Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir, Adelaide Hills Shiraz, “Balhannah Vineyard” Adelaide Hills Shiraz, “Lenswood Vineyard” Adelaide Hills Chardonnay, “Lenswood Vineyard” Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir
