Shaw & Smith   
Modern Australian wines from Adelaide Hills

Website: www.shawandsmith.com

Michael Hill Smith

Shaw & Smith, a partnership between first cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith, recently celebrated their 20th anniversary. ‘It has been a terrific time,’ says Michael Hill Smith. ‘We started making wine in 1990, and it has been terrifically successful and fun – a really pleasing partnership.’ How did it all start? ‘We found some grapes from Geoff Hardy’s vineyard in the south of the Adelaide Hills – Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay – and we found tank space at Wirra Wirra, with Greg Trott. The following year we moved to Petaluma, and stayed there until 2000, when we put in our own winery.’

One of the specialities of Shaw & Smith has been their Sauvignon Blanc, which pays the bills while they have fun with other varieties. It’s a really attractive, well balanced wine.

Martin Shaw

Chardonnay is a little more serious. ‘We have gone in Australia from big golden Chardonnays with high alcohol and ripeness, through to wines that are finer and finer,’ explains Michael. ‘We have changed our approach, too, moving to hand harvest, pre-chilling, whole-bunch pressing and using wild fermentations.’ M3 represents this new approach, and the first M3 was in 2000. The wines have been refined further since then, with a movement away from the Californian Chardonnay clones to Dijon clones 95 and 96, a higher proportion of wild ferment, and better selection of oak.

A new move for Shaw & Smith has been Pinot Noir, which they first planted in 2000. Initially the fruit was sold off as sparkling base wine, but since 2007 they have been taking a serious look at the fruit. The 2008 gives a glimpse of where they want to go with this. ‘The goal is the opulence of Central Otago combined with the structure of Burgundy,’ says Michael. Martin says that Pinot Noir is the most challenging of the varieties to work with. ‘Chardonnay is challenging, too. Sauvignon Blanc is all about grape quality.’

Shiraz is an exciting wine for Shaw and Smith. ‘When we make a mistake we are quick to admit it,’ says Michael. ‘We believed the future in the Adelaide Hills was Merlot: the last thing we wanted to do was make under-ripe Shiraz.’ But then they made a wine for one of their growers – a Shiraz – and they realized it was pretty good. 2002 was their first vintage, and this is now perhaps their top wine.

‘We are trying to make wines that are modern Australia,’ states Michael. ‘We are excited about making new wave Australian wines.’

THE WINES

Shaw & Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2009 Adelaide Hills
Fresh, bright and aromatic with lovely fruity character. Fresh but quite full with nice intensity. Very stylish. 89/100

Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 2000 Adelaide Hills
The debut vintage. Evolved, toasty, nutty nose leading to a toasty palate with savoury, spicy, nutty notes. Complex and evolving nicely with some depth. Well integrated oak. Nice stuff. 90/100

Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 2005 Adelaide Hills
Complex, aromatic, toasty nose. Fine palate with lovely complexity and creamy, bready, toasty notes. Lovely texture. A delicious wine. 91/100

Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 2006 Adelaide Hills
Fine, focused and fresh with wonderful spicy, toasty complexity and good acidity. Very refreshing and youthful with lovely focus. 93/100

Shaw & Smith M3 Chardonnay 2008 Adelaide Hills
Warm, toasty nose with wonderful freshness and good acidity, and some lemony notes. Creamy, fresh, toasty and really refined with great focus. Still youthful. 93/100 (£19.99, Harrods, Oz Wines, Selfridges, Philglas & Swiggot, The Secret Cellar, Noel Young Wines, Bennetts Fine Wines, Winedirect, Peckhams, Valvona & Crolla, Villeneuve Wines)

Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2002 Adelaide Hills
Rich, tarry, medicinal nose with a pharmaceutical edge: notes of mint, menthol and spice. Powerful, rich, minty, spicy palate. Savoury and tannic, but still quite youthful with a long future ahead of it. A bit odd, but nice. 90/100

Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2005 Adelaide Hills
Lovely aromatic dark cherry, raspberry and blackberry fruit nose. The palate has a lovely freshness with good definition and fresh fruitiness. It’s backed up by good acidity and savoury, spicy structure. Some elegance. 92/100

Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2006 Adelaide Hills
Beautiful definition and freshness with a fantastic white pepper edge to the nose. Meaty, olive notes complement the pure red and black fruits on the palate. Precise, complex and substantial, this is almost perfect and will develop beautifully. 95/100

Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2007 Adelaide Hills
Sweet fresh dark fruits with some sweetness and lushness, but also good definition. Hints of olive and spice, too. Richer than the 2006 but still totally delicious. Ripe and spicy. 92/100 (£18.99 Majestic, Australian Wines Online, Harrods, Wine Man, Bennetts Fine Wines, Corks Out, Philglas  Swiggot, Reserve Wines, Halifax Wine Co, Noel Young Wines, Peckhams, Markinch Wine Gallery)

Shaw & Smith Pinot Noir 2008 Adelaide Hills
Lovely elegant nose with smooth, sweet sappy fruit. The palate is smooth textured with lovely cherry fruit and gentle herbiness. Light on its feet: elegant and quite delicate but with sweet fruit and a hint of richness. 92/100 (£21.99 Australian Wines Online, Noel Young Wines, Henderson Wines, Liberty Wines)

See also:

Clonakilla vertical, with Tim Kirk
Brian Croser, Petaluma and Tapanappa (series)

Wines tasted 09/09  
Find these wines with wine-searcher.com

An older report from 2002:

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