2009 Shaw + Smith Shiraz Reviews
WINEWISE CHAMPIONSHIP 2011
Champion Dry Red
Shiraz Medallion
WINEWISE WINES OF THE YEAR 2011
www.winecompanion.com.au 17th December 2010
James Halliday
96 Points
Deep colour, vibrant hue; deep and compelling levels of ripe black fruits, savoury spices and well handled toasty oak; the palate is unctuous and silky, with black and red fruits combining with silky fine-grained tannins expanding across the palate with true grace and harmony; long and luscious.
Winewise Volume 26 Number 6 February 2011
Lester Jesberg
Outstanding
This is a beautifully made spicy dark cherry style which is perfectly poised and utterly delicious. One of Australia’s finest reds. (not yet released.) Excellent value.
Sydney Morning Herald 24th May 2011
Huon Hooke
96 Points
Shaw & Smith regularly makes some of the smartest shiraz in the land. Very deep red-purple colour; the bouquet is spicy and ripe with ironstone and dark-fruit aromas. In the mouth it’s rich and concentrated, powerful and commanding, with brilliant ripeness and impressive length. Now to 2034
Wine Spectator June 2011
Harvey Steiman
92 Points
Polished and focused, with peppery, savory aromas and flavours around a little core of blackberry, dark plum and wet earth character, all of it mingling together harmoniously on the finish. This has presence and depth. Drink now through 2018
www.winingpom.com.au 31st May 2011
Patrick Haddock
This is the best Shaw and Smith Shiraz since the lauded and loved 2006. That’s not to say that 07 and 08 were not on song but this is positively humming a sweet melody of hallelujahs.
Its the refinements that appeal to me, each release this Adelaide Hills red just seems to gain in stature, as if like sculpters the winemaking team get more precise as they chisel away to craft more Rodin-like curves.
The nose is as seductive as ever showing, plum, black cherry, clove, cinnamon, some raspberry jam and even ironstone. If this was not lively enough the palate is even more bountiful with a superb, glossy mouthfeel showing red and black fruits, white pepper and some baked meats. It’s the weight that’s mesmerising, joyous mouth-coating tannins and excellent acids prove that this is more than cellar worthy, while intense length and concentration just heighten the whole package. Amazing at the price and certainly a benchmark of the region. Seek this out and increase the worth of your cellar immediately.
Adelaide Hills Wine Show 2010
Gold Medal
Australian Wine Vintages 2012
Rob Geddes
91 Points
Impeccable elegance and detial; fresh blueberry aromas, lands full and rich, good juicy varietal sweetness with spice and a solid seamless structure.
The Sunday Examiner Magazine 10th July 2011
Winsor Dobbin
This could be the template for modern Australian cool-climate shiraz. Cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith are in a great quality groove – and this is one of their best over the past 20 years; supple and muscular it is reminiscent of a welterweight boxer; sleek and beautifully balanced. It has some delicious red and black fruit characters allied to a plethora of pepper and spice notes. A wine of length and concentration that really sets a benchmark and will certainly cellar well in the medium term.
Surf Coast & Bellarine Times 9th August 2011
Jon Helmer
The latest vintage has won a swag of awards recently that reinforce the exalted position and respect that Michael Hill Smith and cousin Martin Shaw have carved out for themselves with the Shaw & Smith wines on the Australian wine landscape. The latest chapter in their shiraz odyssey is incredibly attractive to say the least, with elegant streamlined fruit holding sway with vibrancy and distinctive bright violets, pepper and spice characters. Reolent with rich, ripe black cherry and berry flavors, yet harmoniously balanced, and showing a little more concentration and complexityy than previous wines, fleshing out nicely on the long, lengthy velvety smooth tannin finish…… fantastic!
Sarah Ahmed Posted 16th September 2011
This is a favourite Aussie cool climate Shiraz, consistently good and the 09 is no exception. Fermented on c. 1% Viognier skins there’s plenty of lift and layer with top notes of five spice and eucalypt and darker, meatier Szechuan pepper, clove, smoky bacon and mocha to its concentrated sweet boysenberry and juicy blackberry fruit. Ripe but present tannins frame the fruit and lend texture. Lots to like.
WBM August 2011
Tyson Stelzer
94 points
Shaw + Smith Sauvignon addicts, Shiraz is really where it’s at for this company. The 09 shows just how concentration of black fruits and taut tannin poise can be achieved at once.
Money Magazine
Peter Forrestal October 2011
Shaw and Smith are one of half a dozen top Adelaide Hills producers making an exciting new style of shiraz. There’s a plushness and an elegance that set them apart. The 2009 is perhaps Shaw & Smith’s finest vintage; brooding, spicy aromatics with star anise and licorice notes and blackberry and dark cheery flavours that are opulent, concentrated and complex. It has a lush, fine texture and impressive weight yet is bright, fresh and vibrant. Delicious and surprisingly approachable, although it will rewards careful medium-term cellaring.
The Age – Sydney Morning Herald – Good Wine Guide 2012
Nick Stock
93 Points
Striking liquorice-scented nose here: plenty of wood spices and black cherry fruits below, some red fruits, a little pepper and some fragrant, lifted perfume. The palate’s neatly struck, with a surge of mocha oak flavour amid fine, even tannins and a juicy cassis, plum and black-cherry finish. A neat play of concentration and elegance here.
The Advertiser Top 100 Wines
9th November 2011
Tony Love
94 Points
One of the new-wave, cool-climate shiraz brigade that offers a vibrant fruited approach rather than heavier, dark and often over-ripe warmer region styles. With this comes a spicy, peppery edge, a distinct pull back in the oak department and a bite in the red bery fruit elements. It’s alive, energetic and lovely to drink.