2023 Shaw + Smith Balhannah Vineyard Shiraz 750ml

Awards, Ratings & Reviews

96/100 — Campbell Mattinson, campbellmattinson.com · 2023 Vintage
“This is a wine of power and darkness and yet it remains elegant and, indeed, exquisite. It tastes of walnuts and plums, smoked meats, barbecued black cherries, cedar, dark soy, peppercorn and cocoa, and while there’s a boldness in play all these flavours are relayed in intimate, interwoven detail. There’s a logic to everything here; a motivation to the way each flavour bounces from one to the next. This impression is aided by the svelte, luxury nature of the texture. This is an elite wine. It’s complex, it’s seductive, and it’s compelling.”

96/100 — Tom Kline, The Wine Pilot · 2023 Vintage
“There's a northern Rhône sensibility from the outset — savoury lashings of black olive in brine, black and pink peppercorn, cured meat and garrigue hovering over dark cherry and snapped twigs. There are flickers of smoky mezcal and menthol beneath, along with some whole-bunch-derived stemmy notes. Very alluring. On the palate there's a burst of bunchy tones, black olive again, dried herbs, blackberry, smoked meat, dark cherry. The tannins are firm and assertive, putting a corset around the fruit, but they're also ductile and long, drawing the savoury and fruit mix to excellent length. An exciting Shiraz — not shying away from savouriness and firm structure while still imbued with a sense of elegance and grace.”

95/100 — Gary Walsh, The Wine Front · 2023 Vintage
“Blackberry, plum, grilled meat, a char siu pork thing here, plenty of spice and pepper, brazil nuts, dried flowers. It’s medium-bodied, distinctly saline and savoury, black olive rolled in dried herbs, meaty too, has a mix of red and black fruits, a grainy sort of sooty feel to tannin, a boysenberry freshness to acidity, with a nutty and spicy finish of excellent length, pulling quite dry and grainy to close, with a light amaro bitterness and subtle rubbery reduction. A very adult style of Shiraz, also quite charismatic with it. Very good.”

About This Wine

From close-planted (5,500 vines/hectare) low yielding vines from block two at Shaw + Smith’s Balhannah Vineyard, planted in 2005, with a north-facing aspect and soils of loam over clay, ironstone, quartzite, and shale.

The 2023 season was a late, cool and wet La Niña influenced vintage, resulting in excellent acidity and distinctive cool season flavours.

Hand-picked and hand sorted, aged for 14 months in 500 to 600 litre French oak barrels, 15% new, followed by a further 14 months in bottle.

Producer Notes

Fresh and aromatic with lifted florals, red fruits and subtle spice. Notes of graphite bring definition to the wine, and a thread of black olive tapenade adds a savoury edge. The palate is finely structured, with supple tannins making the wine immediately approachable. A vintage that clearly expresses the Balhannah Vineyard character.

About the Producer

Shaw + Smith is a wine producer located in the Adelaide Hills in South Australia. The company was founded by Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith MW, and the inaugural vintage was in 1990.

The estate is comprised of two vineyards in the Adelaide Hills: the Balhannah vineyard purchased in 1999; and the Lenswood vineyard, established in 2012.

Shaw + Smith is known for producing high-quality wines from Chardonnay and Shiraz, along with other varieties, and employs a range of oak formats including French barriques and 500-litre puncheons.

Specifications

• Vintage: 2023
• Grape Variety: Shiraz
• Region: Adelaide Hills / South Australia / Australia
• Alcohol: 13.5%
• Acidity pH: 3.89
• Acidity TA: 4.5
• Maturation: Aged for 14 months in 500 to 600 litre French oak barrels, 15% new, followed by a further 14 months in bottle