Shaw + Smith, M3 Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills

Restaurant by the bottle. Walks the line between old and new. Round and approachable. Opened over an hour or so. I lost a bit of interest towards the end of the bottle. Would like to spend a bit more time with this in a more relaxed setting.

2024 vintage

Reduction and some tropical lime. Its good, but a bit linear

2021 vintage

Smoky and vanilla notes combine with a medley of exotic fruits. On the palate, it’s flavorful and well-structured, with a long finish that recalls the wine’s subtle smokiness. The oak influence is slightly pronounced, but overall this is an excellent Chardonnay

2021 vintage

Smoky minerals, sappy orchard fruits and a whiff of toast. Nice shape with a heart of concentrated fruit. A touch of spice and squeeze of lemon to the finish. Nice persistence.

2024 vintage

I have always enjoyed Shaw and Smith Chardonnay. A very good value well rounded wine. Smooth with flavours of vanilla, pear and a touch buttery.

2018 vintage

Color: Pale lemon in appearance, with a bright and clear hue. Nose: The intensity is medium. Secondary aromas such as cream, yeast, cedar, and clove take the lead, while primary aromas of fresh fruits and herbs—lemon, lemon zest, grapefruit, apricot—along with wet stone, chamomile, white pepper, asparagus, and dill, are also present. A distinct tertiary note of hazelnut is noticeable, with subtle hints of honey and dried grapefruit suggesting the very early stages of bottle aging. Palate: Dry, with crisp …

2024 vintage

Not in the class of the Tapanappa from 2024 but still very good. Sweet nectarines and minerals, good length, soft oak and likely MLF. High grade for sure. I don't see this more than a 5yr prop.

2024 vintage

The Hills are alive (Prince Sydney, 40 Hansard Street) : Toasted notes, lemon, slightly unripe stone fruit, sweet spice, very slight butter. In the mouth it's less rich than previous vintages, tangy, slight butter, sweet spice, time to come together, very young suffers from losing the Lenswood fruit this vintage.

2024 vintage

A nose full of Honeydew and rock melon with some crisp apple and nashi pear Smokey oak initially and then vanilla notes. The palate shows some nashi pear melon stone fruit of ripe nectarines and citrus flavours that opened up over 30 mins to a truely great wine that shone. Drinking wonderfully now but has life left in it

2018 vintage

This is an excellent example of its style, but I just don't like that style. I agree with other reviews that there's a lot of sulfur (struck match) on the initial nose. To me, the wood really overwhelms everything else--there seems to be some good warm climate Chardonnay, but it's hard for me to smell it under all that wood. Too bad I have six more bottles--I'll probably try to give it away to those who like this style.

2021 vintage

Shaw and Smith Masterclass with David LeMire MW (MW Wines) : Very clean wine. Developing with good intensity on the nose and on the palate. White flowers and white stone fruits sit alongside a slight minerality. Hint of toast. Long finish. Smart winemaking. Very good already and can be drunk now or aged. Grapes sourced from across their three Adelaide Hills vineyards, Lenswood, Loebthal and Piccadilly.

2024 vintage

This is really good Chardonnay. Lots of reduction on the nose, peanuts, citrus and tropical fruit. Very pleasant acidity, quality oak, great balance. Gets much better with air and should be paired with food, and when you stick that plan you are in for a real treat.

2021 vintage

Still great, lovely Burgundian chard.

2021 vintage

Moncur Cellars Chardonnay (Bistro Moncur, Sydney) : Slightly reductive notes accompany peach, apricot and oaky spices, a touch of butter here as well. Rich(ish) nose. Generous, fruit forward but fresh and peach , a little butter and sweet oak spice, silky tannic rasp. Yummo in the larger space.

2024 vintage

This has tropical fruit flavors, nice complexity, good weight and good acidity to balance the fruit. I liked it the first day and liked it even better the second day.

2021 vintage

At the beginnen so much wood aromas but it got less and less after a while. Still it bothered me. It had some high acidity and aromas of citrus. It still got me curious but I'm not sure how good it actually was because it had some interesting aromas and balans and after taste.

2021 vintage

Mineral bouquet, rose buds, white fruits, stone, citrus and some butter. Same on the palate, litchi, juicy medium+ acidity and some bitterness in the finish.

2021 vintage

Rather disappointing. Very disjointed on day 1. The nose was extremely toasty, unappetising oak flavours and rather reductive, and this was the same on the palette. I actually struggled to drink this, and would have awarded it less than 80 from this day alone. On day 2 however, the wine had transformed completely. The toastiness was gone, and the oak just a decoration on top of beautiful flavours of apple and citrus. On this day, probably 91 or so. But …

2021 vintage

Great Burgundy style chard. Was singing today.

2021 vintage

As previous notes.

2021 vintage

Excellent, better dynamism than my last bottle.

2021 vintage

Intensity medium(+). Citrus, green apple, butter, oak, vanilla, toast. Acidity medium. Finish medium(+). Upon opening the wine was a little out of balance, but with some additional oxygen and increasing temperature it turned out to be better than in my initial verdict.

2021 vintage

Robe jaune dense. Nez de diacétyle, popcorn, beurre, souffre. La bouche est marqué par le bois (elle ne le supporte pas) le beurre et le souffre. Surprenant.

2021 vintage

White fruits, minerals and toast in the bouquet. Same on the palate, citrus, flint stone, well dosed oak. Beautiful and complex wine.

2021 vintage

I really enjoyed my first good quality Aussie Chardonnay. If I had been told this was a fancy Burgundy I would have believed it. This is drinking very well right now, but do give it some air before hand. We decanted it for 45mins, and it did improve over the evening.

2018 vintage

The nose is very promising but the mouth does not follow. Excellent flavors but too thin to have a higher rating.

2021 vintage

This didn't seem to have a lot going for it at first but after an hour it provided subtle complexity of stone fruits and a bit of butterscotch.

2021 vintage

Asian pear, almond, and lime zest. Pleasant.

2021 vintage

Screw cap. 13% alc. Melon and stone fruits. Seamless and balanced in the mouth. Drank well over a couple of days.

2018 vintage

Classy. Still some oak but the fruit and structure are beautifully balanced. Lot of depth and long finish. V good

2018 vintage

Fans of top-flight Aussie chards go for a Leeuwin Estate or Tolpuddle, which are both outstanding, but a Shaw + Smith M3 is not too far behind both and a terrific value at under US$30. Linear, with peach and beeswax notes, it's just crisp enough and just mellow enough to go all right with just about anything. When I can find it cheap, it's the new house chardonnay.

2021 vintage

The bouquet is a bit reticent but shows some butter and elegant oaky flavors. On the palate focused citrus acidity, butter, minerals, peach, a touch of sweetness and pleasant bitterness in the finish. Beautiful and well balanced wine.

2021 vintage

Dueling extremes, with intense notes of tart apricot and unripe pear countered by heavy oak. Lively acidity too, and while this seems linear (for now) it's still pretty damn tasty, and should improve.

2021 vintage

A short finish chablis

2021 vintage

Lovely interplay on the nose with peach and pineapple together with struck flint, toast, cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. The palate brings a lemon twist and smoky toasted almond notes. Fresh with elegant texture. Long finish. Drink now or hold. WSET notes: Pale lemon. Pronounced on the nose with pear, peach, pineapple, lemon, flint, smoke, cream, toast, nutmeg and almond. Developing. Pronounced and dry on the palate with green apple coming through. Medium minus body, high acidity, medium alcohol, …

2018 vintage

Rich, complex nose. Full flavoured right out of the gate, held in check with balanced acid. Good length. Persistent flavours. Made to drink well young but should age nicely. Surprisingly approachable. An excellent M3.

2021 vintage

1 hr decant. Had at Jacks mountain cabin in massanutten. Had with salmon. Ellen did not like it. Tasty lighter chardonnay balanced, went down easy. Nothing memorable stood out. Would not buy again at this pricepoint. First Australian chardonnay from this area.

2018 vintage

Bought from Majestic Wines, UK, £27.99, March 2022 Screw cap, tasted well chilled, decanted in the fridge 1 hr. N...charming pineapple crushed and cut, a bit of rock melon, a couple of other things I was surprised I couldn't immediately put my finger on; medium+ intensity; after 30 minutes the Nose opened up 100%, roasted almond arrived, some oak, some banana and brown sugar. Interesting and attractive. C....light gold, looks medium-bodied. T.....Wow, this is lovely; more dry than I expected …

2018 vintage

This was an award winning wine which was huge and tight when I first tried it and hadn't revealed the layers of flavour and texture. This time the wine displays aromas of white flowers, grapefruit and nectarine on the nose intwined with oak characters. The palate is simply a showcase of flavours that range from white stone fruit to slate minerality and toast. The wine has a great intensity and character both on the palate and the finish and with …

2018 vintage

Light golden and bright. Grippy pears, white peaches and light buttery nose with citrus spritz. Opens with a light butterscotch wash, fine citrus acidity running through it, supported by white peaches and biscuit grip of light tannins. Not too deep at the moment but good. Probably too young and has the structure to be fine.

2021 vintage

Ramen post Tyrrell's : Peach, yellow florals, orange peel and pear. Riper style here, plenty of fruit density - despite that carries some acid tang through its length. Some nice drinking to be had in the medium term future here.

2018 vintage

Pure white peach and green melon fruits on the nose and in the mouth. There's a touch of spice and excellent intensity of flavour at its core. It has excellent shape and a finish that is precise and full of citrussy goodness. A very classy M3.

2021 vintage

Highly aromatic chervil, barnyard brioche, fenugreek, bright mineral lemon palate mid-light body and saline finish that feels thin but lingering. Strangely disconcerting in the power of the front end and lightness of the ending. Fabulous nonetheless. Would have benefited greatly from more weight IMO. The pronounced barnyard aroma can be off-putting to a significant portion of drinkers.

2018 vintage

Lower score perhaps due to personal taste rather than comment on quality? Whilst there is great concentration of fruit and a piercing freshness (which leaves you salivating for more), I am missing some of the bready/butter notes I was expecting from Chardonnay matured in oak. The fruit is very nice and there is balance in the wine particularly at the 12-15oC. My taste probably elsewhere for £25

2018 vintage

Excellent qpr Chard. Strong matchstick at first on the nose. Palate was stony, hints of tangerine.

2018 vintage

Cellar tracker average is bang on with this one. I expected more of this wine given previous vintages. This vintage came across as a little and inoffensive wine. It’s clearly very well made, but at this junction is not offering much by way of intensity or depth. A medium to light bodied vintage. It’s good to very good. Needs a good few hours to open up at this time.

2018 vintage

Zoom tasting of chardonnay wines, hosted by Auriol Wines, Hampshire, UK. Medium gold colour. Prominent nose, hazelnuts, vanilla, initially a hint of sulphur but that soon passed. The nose shows melons, tropical fruits, with nice balance and acidity, rich, full, big tannins. Good overall, but I think this is still young and needs much more time, probably 3-5 years.

2018 vintage

Extremely good Chardonnay. Cooler climate Australian once again showing how it has the best QPR out there. So much tension, and decisive flavours. The backbone of acid is so refreshing even though the fruit is ripe. Pristine citrus, white peach and gunflint notes work so well with the well integrated oak and complex lees character. Everything is in balance and the finish is good. This was young and needed air, and not to be too cold to really show its …

2018 vintage

Drunk way to early as the wine is tight and only beginning to reveal the complexity. That said it is really a great Australian chardonnay which will live a number of years.

2018 vintage

Love the linear elegance here. Dances gently but with piercing precision. Tasting peach, lychee, pineapple perhaps bay leaf and lemongrass. A fine Chardonnay with more the mid weight of Old World peers. Lovely freshness - will be interesting to see how it evolves but incredibly enjoyable right now.

2018 vintage

Are you sure?

Shaw + Smith, M3 Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills

Vintages

No vintages

Community Reviews