Nick Stock - Fifty+SA - February 2023
Year on year this is a wine that hits the sweet spot of refreshment and juicy, intense flavour. It offers all the passion fruit, mango, white peach, lime and grassy fresh-picked herb characters that this variety is so well-known for and wraps it all up in a lip-smackingly juicy package. Just stunning.
Max Crus - Wine Commentator - Best of '22 - January 2023
Was it NZ who ruined sauv blanc for everyone? Those damned Kiwis should all be given a bottle of this to see how it should be done. Easily the best SB in our recycle bin and really, at $31, possibly the best value white wine in the country. Absolutely lovely. 97 Points.
Matthew Jukes - 100 Best Australian Wines Report 2022/2023 - November 2022
The 2022 vintage is raspier and tangier than ever, and this raucous attitude differentiates this vintage from the more textural years. If you are searching for a high-voltage Sauvignon, S+S fulfils this brief with alacrity.
James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com - October 2022
Very fresh nose with a wide spectrum of aromas, ranging from forthrightly grassy and fresh-basil notes to gooseberry, grapefruit and passion fruit, this is a juicy and elegant Adelaide Hills sauvignon blanc. Long, racy finish. 93 Points.
Ned Goodwin MW - James Halliday Wine Companion - September 2022
A cool, low-yielding and attenuated year, good for the sort of varieties that excel in these parts. Cool fermented without oak. A smart wine that hits all the marks the sauvignon blanc fanbase expect, with pink grapefruit, guava and nettle accents flowing long across a rivulet of juicy acidity. Straightforward wine done well. 93 Points.
Andrew Graham - Australian Wine Review - September 2022
It’s easy to get blase about Sauvignon Blanc – a variety that so often is treated like an alcohol delivery system rather than a serious wine. Yet Shaw + Smith have realised that good Sauvignon Blanc is more than just a cash cow, it’s a grape that can be genuinely refreshing. You could argue, that it has made the winery name, and releases like the new Shaw + Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2022 are going to do no harm.
That’s because this is everything lots of people want in a young Sauv. Water clear, its smells of fresh fruit – all ultra varietal passionfruit meets gooseberry meets guava. It’s a ‘fruity’ wine too, with a pristine palate of stonefruit and citrus. So it tastes generous, yet it’s not sweet at all – that finish is taut, trim, with more than enough acidity.
It’s the sort of wine you can drink out of large plastic cups and empty a bottle, then take a closer look and realise that it’s perfectly contained. Precise, with acidity that is firm but not harsh, and no shortage of intensity. It’s not complex, it’s not strictly long either. But it is a very good example of what it’s trying to be – a refreshing white wine. As I said when I first tasted this in July, a strong release. 92 Points.
Shanteh Wale - Wine Pilot - August 2022
Bursting from the glass comes passionfruit pulp scooped out of the hull, guava and honeydew wedges. Aromas of subtle jasmine blossom and white grapefruit juice. The palate takes on more of a lemon citrus tone with nashi pear and crisp Johnny apple flesh. A luscious mouth feel is complemented by racy acidity and the wine finishes with a swift crispness that only the Hills can provide. You just have to remark at the pedigree of this wine, it’s impossible not to adore it and see why it dominates the Sauvignon Blanc landscape of Australia. The 2022 is elegant and packed to the brim with tropical and citrus fruit followed by a svelte structure. 95 Points.
Stuart Knox - The Real Review - August 2022
Very pale, almost water-white in colour. Nose jumps with lemon curd, cut grass and a hint of onion skin aromatics. Fruit weight is noted immediately with an intensity of lemon and passionfruit demanding attention. Fresh cut green herbs linger underneath alongside a saline minerality that is accentuated by chalky acidity. The fruit and acid interplay sends the palate long and it carries balance right to the finish. 93 Points.
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate - July 2022
This is the benchmark for (tank fermented, pure) Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc. The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc has sweet green pea, green apple skins, juniper, rosemary, a hint of nashi pear and layers of jasmine tea and spice. This is, as usual, very fine and spicy, with purity and textural complexity side by side. Pear skin. Pretty. 93 Points.
Nick Stock - Fifty+SA - February 2023
Year on year this is a wine that hits the sweet spot of refreshment and juicy, intense flavour. It offers all the passion fruit, mango, white peach, lime and grassy fresh-picked herb characters that this variety is so well-known for and wraps it all up in a lip-smackingly juicy package. Just stunning.
Max Crus - Wine Commentator - Best of '22 - January 2023
Was it NZ who ruined sauv blanc for everyone? Those damned Kiwis should all be given a bottle of this to see how it should be done. Easily the best SB in our recycle bin and really, at $31, possibly the best value white wine in the country. Absolutely lovely. 97 Points.
Matthew Jukes - 100 Best Australian Wines Report 2022/2023 - November 2022
The 2022 vintage is raspier and tangier than ever, and this raucous attitude differentiates this vintage from the more textural years. If you are searching for a high-voltage Sauvignon, S+S fulfils this brief with alacrity.
James Suckling - Jamessuckling.com - October 2022
Very fresh nose with a wide spectrum of aromas, ranging from forthrightly grassy and fresh-basil notes to gooseberry, grapefruit and passion fruit, this is a juicy and elegant Adelaide Hills sauvignon blanc. Long, racy finish. 93 Points.
Ned Goodwin MW - James Halliday Wine Companion - September 2022
A cool, low-yielding and attenuated year, good for the sort of varieties that excel in these parts. Cool fermented without oak. A smart wine that hits all the marks the sauvignon blanc fanbase expect, with pink grapefruit, guava and nettle accents flowing long across a rivulet of juicy acidity. Straightforward wine done well. 93 Points.
Andrew Graham - Australian Wine Review - September 2022
It’s easy to get blase about Sauvignon Blanc – a variety that so often is treated like an alcohol delivery system rather than a serious wine. Yet Shaw + Smith have realised that good Sauvignon Blanc is more than just a cash cow, it’s a grape that can be genuinely refreshing. You could argue, that it has made the winery name, and releases like the new Shaw + Smith Sauvignon Blanc 2022 are going to do no harm.
That’s because this is everything lots of people want in a young Sauv. Water clear, its smells of fresh fruit – all ultra varietal passionfruit meets gooseberry meets guava. It’s a ‘fruity’ wine too, with a pristine palate of stonefruit and citrus. So it tastes generous, yet it’s not sweet at all – that finish is taut, trim, with more than enough acidity.
It’s the sort of wine you can drink out of large plastic cups and empty a bottle, then take a closer look and realise that it’s perfectly contained. Precise, with acidity that is firm but not harsh, and no shortage of intensity. It’s not complex, it’s not strictly long either. But it is a very good example of what it’s trying to be – a refreshing white wine. As I said when I first tasted this in July, a strong release. 92 Points.
Shanteh Wale - Wine Pilot - August 2022
Bursting from the glass comes passionfruit pulp scooped out of the hull, guava and honeydew wedges. Aromas of subtle jasmine blossom and white grapefruit juice. The palate takes on more of a lemon citrus tone with nashi pear and crisp Johnny apple flesh. A luscious mouth feel is complemented by racy acidity and the wine finishes with a swift crispness that only the Hills can provide. You just have to remark at the pedigree of this wine, it’s impossible not to adore it and see why it dominates the Sauvignon Blanc landscape of Australia. The 2022 is elegant and packed to the brim with tropical and citrus fruit followed by a svelte structure. 95 Points.
Stuart Knox - The Real Review - August 2022
Very pale, almost water-white in colour. Nose jumps with lemon curd, cut grass and a hint of onion skin aromatics. Fruit weight is noted immediately with an intensity of lemon and passionfruit demanding attention. Fresh cut green herbs linger underneath alongside a saline minerality that is accentuated by chalky acidity. The fruit and acid interplay sends the palate long and it carries balance right to the finish. 93 Points.
Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate - July 2022
This is the benchmark for (tank fermented, pure) Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc. The 2022 Sauvignon Blanc has sweet green pea, green apple skins, juniper, rosemary, a hint of nashi pear and layers of jasmine tea and spice. This is, as usual, very fine and spicy, with purity and textural complexity side by side. Pear skin. Pretty. 93 Points.
