2016 Shaw & Smith Shiraz, Adelaide Hills, Australia (750ml)   

Shaw + Smith Shiraz is a medium bodied cool-climate Shiraz, in which balance is more important than power. The 2017 vintage was very cool, and Shiraz was picked four weeks later than usual. The wine is particularly fragrant as a result of the season.

Hand picked and fermented as a combination of whole berries and whole bunches in open fermenters, with gentle plunging and minimal working. Aged in French oak for fourteen months, of which one third was new. The Adelaide Hills was long considered too cool to ripen Shiraz. By the early 2000s, though, the potential for outstanding Shiraz from the right sites in the Adelaide Hills was compelling, and the first Shaw + Smith Shiraz was made in the 2002 vintage. Since then, Shiraz in the Hills has gone from strength to strength, its hallmarks being fragrance, intensity, and medium bodied elegance.