Personalised MMAD Vineyard Shiraz 2023 13.5% 750mL

TASTING NOTES
PALATE
There is old vine concentration, and opulence on the palate, with notes of mulberry, blackberry, cinnamon, and dark chocolate. Generous, layered, and complex, with tannins and savoury notes that keep the fruit in check.

REGION NOTES
Located in the dress circle of Blewitt Springs, MMAD Vineyard was first planted in 1939, and the oldest Shiraz blocks date from 1941. The vineyard has the fine Maslin sands found in Blewitt Springs, and is exposed to the fresh sea breezes from the south-west. Below the sand is a layer of ironstone pebbles, and this combination of sand, ironstone, and cooling winds gives both perfume and structure to the wines.

VINIFICATION
The fruit was hand-picked, 80% destemmed, and whole berries and whole bunches were fermented in open vats with gentle extraction.

VINTAGE NOTES
From the first vintage for the MMAD team, and it’s hard to imagine a better season. Lovely mild ripening conditions gave beautiful balance to the Shiraz.

CELLARING POTENTIAL
Has the concentration and structure to develop fine tertiary characters in bottle over the next 15 years.

DESCRIPTION
COUNTRY: Australia
REGION: McLaren Vale
VARIETY: Shiraz/Syrah
ALCOHOL VOL.: 13.5
VINTAGE: 2023
CLOSURE: Screwcap
VOLUME: 750

Reviews:

Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion - 97 Pts

The third year, and a notably long and cool season. The process here, in general, is fermentation in concrete and oak with a portion of whole bunch, though mostly destemmed, then élevage in older, larger French oak. There’s a little reduction up front but that settles, revealing a moodily scented wine, saline with blackberry pastille, olive, ground cacao nibs, violet and lavender, black cherry, star anise, clove, pepper and mace. It’s a complex wine, more medium in stature, with significant Rhône echoes. Saint-Joseph comes to mind, but this is a wine of site and there’s nothing imitative about the elaboration. Another excellent release; maybe less intense than the '22, but just so detailed.

Jeni Port, Wine Pilot - 97 Pts

The accompanying wine notes tell of the latest and coolest vintage yet for this vineyard, but the upshot was a wide picking window combined with small, bunches and intense fruit flavours. The result is an absolute stunner of a wine, boasting a layer of what can only – and perhaps a little too lazily – be described as cool climate-inspired spiciness. It’s more inherent than a flat-out feature and to be fair was present in the ’22 release, one ingredient in a complex range of scents and flavours that take in black cherry, plum, cassis with lifted aromatics in rose and pressed flowers and dusty cacao, bitter chocolate and, yes, spices with anise and pepper in the lead. Fruit, oak, tannins and spice are packed tight, an intense youngster that will age a beaut. In the meantime, it’s bright, it dances, it weaves, it’s a seamless engaging young Shiraz of the highest quality.

Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 Pts

Very deep, dark, dense red-purple, young and bold. Mixed spices and dried herbs with sage to the fore, purple fruits too, violets and blueberry, which power through on the palate as well. Full bodied yet elegant, with fine, powdery tannins, the entirety lingering on for a long time on the finish and after-palate. Hints of graphite and broken ironstone. A splendid shiraz with great potential for improvement in the cellar.