Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay 2017 Aged Release

Name: Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay 2017 Aged Release
SKU: 30788
Availability: InStock

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Description

Description

Style

Re-releasing in tiny quantities under the Shaw + Smith maturation program; allowing the wines to gain a level of complexity from careful bottle aging in our temperature-controlled cellar.
From a cool and late vintage with above average rainfall. This wine is delicate and detailed, but not at the expense of flavour. The palate is long and opulent, showing lovely tertiary characters of hazelnut from time in bottle.

Season

There was record rainfall throughout the growing season but importantly it reduced to average in November during flowering and was dry during March, the later part of ripening. Record low temperatures were also recorded resulting in a late, very cool vintage.

Vineyard

Predominantly from our Lenswood Vineyard, at 455–500 metres elevation. Undulating with east and west facing aspects, the soils are brown loams over clay with broken shale on the ridges. The vineyard was planted in 1999.

Vinification

Hand picked and whole bunch pressed. Fermented and matured on lees in French oak barriques and puncheons.

Maturation

Although our wines always drink well on release, they age well too. To allow these wines to be enjoyed with bottle age we keep a little back each year.

Reviews

Energetic and intense. A mellow and understated chardonnay but with plenty of detail in spice, gentle savouriness and winemaking seasoning, cool acidity, a tightly wound fruit profile, general minerality and high drinkability. Overall, elegant and refined, sleek across the palate and quite compact with a light juiciness in tow. Nougat, lime curd, green apple and ginger in the bouquet, a similar set of descriptors to taste, with a lively trail of spice following on. High in the pleasure stakes, this continues to be an impressive Hills chardonnay. 94 Points.

Mike Bennie, Halliday Wine Companion - August 2024

In case you were not aware you are drinking some of the first grapes picked from the S+S high density planting of the Piccadilly vineyard. Lemon verbena, grapefruit and wet concrete. Celery stem, fresh ginger and printer paper. Peach cheeks and almond nougat. A wash of electrifying acidity, coconut jelly creaminess and finishing with a sake like leesy quality. This is intense in flavour as we have come to expect from the M3 perhaps with more savoury shapes than previous years. It’s compact and muscular but with nice elongated lines of acidity and freshness of citrus fruit. For a chilly vintage this is showing very well now and will cellar up to 5 years. Serve with baked buttery bbq pork char siu bao buns. 95 Points.

Stanteh Wale, The Wine Pilot - June 2024