Shaw & Smith Shiraz 2016 (6 x 750mL), Adelaide Hills, SA.

Expert Reviews

Winewise - February 2019 2016 Shaw + Smith Adelaide Hills Shiraz A beautifully constructed, multifaceted red which combines dark cherry varietal character with spiciness, whole-bunch inputs and a caress of oak. This is an utterly brilliant wine. Five stars.

Huon Hooke - The Real Review - January 2018 Deepish red colour with a tinge of purple. The bouquet is slightly vegetal and humus-like, with spice and 'forest floor' touches. The palate is intense and deep, concentrated and dense, without special elegance but an appealing fruit-sweet middle. There are some whole-bunch hints. A big, brawling baby with lashings of tannins and abundant grip. It needs more time. It lacks this wine's customary spicy aromatic lift and grace, but certainly packs a punch.

96 Points. Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front - December 2018 Cracking shiraz. Pure, ripe, spicy, bold, long, savoury: the lot. Exquisitely well set with tannin. Blue, black and red berries. Crushed dry leaves, not to mention spices. Cloves. Cured meats. Fruit and then more. It's a beauty. It finishes like a kite in a stiff steady breeze; it just wants to go and go and go.

John Lewis - Northside Cronical (Canberra) - November 2018 The cool climate has given us this delightful 14.5%, deep purple, potpourri-scented shiraz.The front palate has vibrant plum flavour, the middle palate shows mulberry, spice, coffee cream chocolate and savoury oak and the finish minty tannins. Ideal for veal and olive ragu. 5 stars

97 Points, James Halliday Wine Companion 2019 Vibrant purple-black; seduces with swathes of dark cherries dipped in kirsch, florals, ferrous and woodsy spices, with toasty oak sewn to the shape of the fuller-bodied palate. Everything is in its place, creating an immaculate whole - the fine-grained tannins, the length, the freshness and detail. It's polished and totally convincing.

Huon Hooke - The Real Review - July 2018 Deep, bold, bright colour, with a reserved bouquet of dark plum, black fruits, earth and graphite. the palate is full-bodied and dense, with substantial tannins that grip the finish and aftertaste. A trace of bitterness in the tannins. A highly-structured shiraz with lots of stuffing.

Morgan Dunn - The Australian - July 2018 The warmth and balance of the vintage shows itself most in what Shaw calls a ‘structurally exciting’ shiraz. There’s plumpness on the nose and in the body, nicely rounded, not too fat. The flavour profile leans more to the purple end of the spectrum and there’s a dried fruit quality, like that little black bit on the top of a blueberry. Tannin is fine, nicely grained and the classic pepperiness of the variety sits untroubled on the tongue, almost as an afterthought. There’s a good gush of juicy acid from under the back of the tongue and the alcohol, a generous 14.5 per cent, hides so well it could compete for its country.