Shaw + Smith…2 cousins from a family of wine making royalty got together in 1989, decided they were going to make top booze and put into action this vision:

“To make exciting, refined wines exclusively from the Adelaide Hills that rank amongst Australia’s best”

Making one of Australia’s finest Sauvignon Blancs and setting a benchmark for “Mod Oz” Chardonnay with the M3, their red wines show restrained elegance and exquisite structure.

Their crew now reads like a Fantasy Football Dream Team with 2 MWs (David LeMire for Sales and Michael Hill Smith as the “Smith” part in the name), throw in Adam Wadewitz as senior winemaker (Jimmy Watson trophy winner) and the hyper experienced Ray Guerin as viticulturist.

Acutely aware that Tasmania is the future of wine in Australia, the forward thinking S+S has expanded  their portfolio with the purchase of the Tolpuddle Vineyard in the Coal River Valley just outside Hobart, producing a stately Pinot Noir and a Chardonnay.

Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir, 2013

Complex nose: Flinty smoke, pig charcuterie, deep red cherry, bluestone rocks and a cinnamon spice

Finely boned. Understated red cherry and ripe strawberry. Delicate tannins weave a lovely mesh that is eminently enjoyable. Just enough savouriness to foil the fruit and adds a little weight. The wine carries long and dances beautifully along the palate. The youthful Adelaide Hills acidity gives portent to the future, after the elegant fruit echoes have finished their diminuendo.

RRP: $45

Alc: 12.5%

Adelaide Hills Shiraz 2013

Vibrant purple edged and alive in the glass. Camphor wood, nut/kernel, blue fruits, star jasmine flower framed with white pepper.

Simply delicious…The nose certainly not a Pinocchio, foretelling the flavours of cool blue plum and blueberry with the perfect sprinkling of pepper. The flavour instantly invokes visions of bunches of juicy tight Shiraz berries, with their almost blue hue: a wine of place…’terroir’ even. Plentiful fine youthful tannins, all elegance and balance. Enjoyable now but leaving for 5 to 7 years will see this mature beautifully.

RRP: $44

Alc: 14%

Wine samples courtesy of Shaw + Smith