MMAD Vineyard Shiraz 2023

97 POINTS - Jeni Port, Wine Pilot
"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."

From a cool, late season in McLaren Vale, with enough rain at the right time to allow the old, dry grown vines to flourish. The vineyard signature of silky mid-palate with long, mineral tannins is clear here, as is the depth of flavour of fruit from old, well-balanced vines and moderate crop levels. There is light and shade on the palate – driven by pretty red fruit, inset with smatterings of richer blue fruit. Bright acidity and lifted florals bring a delicate filagree to what is a structured wine.