Stonefruit,

and

citrus.

New Release, Stonefruit and citrus, contemporary and elegant

Try with pan fried whiting
Ideal drinking until 2029
Ideal serving temperature: 10 - 12°C
Produced using sustainable practices
Suitable for vegans

Tasting notes

Vintage Guide

Reviews

More Wines

Shop more

2021

Shaw + Smith
Shiraz Half Bottle

Sold Out

2024

Shaw + Smith
Sauvignon Blanc Half Bottle

2023

Shaw + Smith
Pinot Noir

2023

Shaw + Smith
M3 Chardonnay

Notes

Style

Aiming for elegance, restraint and the ability to age, acid is bright and there’s generosity of flavour. Typically it shows white flowers, citrus, and nectarine notes. A flavourful and intense Chardonnay, with lovely ginger and orange zest notes as well as nectarine flavours.
A vintage to age, and to drink straight away.

Season

Another cooler than average season with some influence from La Niña weather patterns. The season was cool to begin with, which meant a smaller crop formed during fruit-set. Then it was a mild summer that warmed up towards the end, adding flavour and ripeness to the fresh acidity.

Source

In December the vines looked like they were going to be very late to the party. It’s always a nervous moment, as with the crops out there for longer, fruit can be subject to a number of negative factors. Happily, conditions stayed mild and relatively dry, apart from a few well-timed showers that kept the vines healthy.

Vinification

Hand-picked grapes are pressed as whole bunches, and then squeezed gently but firmly in an air-bag press. The juice goes into barrels made of the finest French oak, for fermentation. After about 9 months in oak, first fermenting, then going through the magical ‘malolactic’ ferment, the batches are blended to stainless steel tanks before bottling.

Download PDF

Reviews

Elegant, poised and precise warm brioche and peach stone aromas and flavours with a persistent finish. 94 Points.

International Wine Challenge - May 2024

Very light, bright colour; the nose slightly fusty with dried-flower heads, dried herbs and a little toasted almond. A subtle trace of butter shortbread; a wheaty/Weetbix overtone. Good depth of flavour, soft and properly dry, with a savoury follow-through, accessible now but also promising to reward a little cellar time. 93 Points.

Huon Hooke, The Real Review, March 2023

A sleek, mid-weighted & highly contemporary chardonnay, embellishing a pungent mineral chassis with roasted cashew, nougat and curdy creaminess. Vanilla-cedar oak, an integrated framework. Apricot pith, white peach and nectarine, too. The acidity, palpably natural of feel and really juicy, towing impressive length. Among the better recent iterations of this rightly popular cuvée. 93 Points.

Ned Goodwin MW, Halliday Wine Companion, February 2023

Pale colour. Lovely white peach, nectarine, grapefruit tonic water aromas with grilled nut, hint marzipan notes. Delicious drinking wine with plentiful peach, nectarine, apricot flavours, fine chalky textures, classical creamy notes and underlying marzipan, hint vanilla notes. This is a text book modern Adelaide Hills Chardonnay; not a long term keeper but it's brilliantly balanced and ready to enjoy. Like Penfolds Bin 389 Cabernet Shiraz, M3 has become a classic wine of first resort with buyers wanting consistency and reliability. Drink now – or keep for a while. 95 Points.

Andrew Caillard MW, The Vintage Journal, April 2023

This a great M3, albeit in a rather tightly focused cool year style. It’s only going to get better and better too. Barrel fermented and spends nine months in oak this vintage. Excellent expression is what wins the race for me here – a little nougat, a little milk bottle reduction but fruit, too, complemented by vanilla bean oak. It doesn’t feel ungenerous, even if the palate has a little youthful rawness. Cool, in the just-ripe white peach mode, with these perfect lines, the palate growing and growing, even if the acidity feels a bit abrupt (a little more malo wouldn’t go astray). Classy, superb Chardonnay regardless. Best drinking: next year, and for a decade no problem. 94 Points.

Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review, May 2023.

It's always great to see the incarnation of M3. I tend to think of this wine in a similar vein to how Champagne houses exemplify their non vintage champagne. An apex wine of the brand but like with all great Maisons this wine continues to evolve and transcend with each vintage. The 2022 vintage encompasses an intensity to the fruit with slick and schmick oak in support. Wild jasmine, honeysuckle, lemonade fruit and yellow nectarines. Baked peach cobbler and candied ginger lolly. This is the self confident salesman in the room and I'm buying every word he says. Impossible not to find this absolutely delicious, no matter how hard you try. So stop trying. Give in, roll over and submit. They have done it again! Utterly bedazzling and with elegance and watertight foundations. Drink now, put some away for a rainy day. Drink with a whole lobster served in its shell and be cavalier about it. 95 Points.

Shanteh Wale, The Wine Pilot, May 2023

A sleek, mid-weighted & very contemporary chardonnay, embellishing a pungent mineral chassis with roasted cashew, nougat and curdy creaminess. Vanilla-cedar oak, an integrated framework. Apricot pith, white peach and nectarine, too. The acidity, palpably natural of feel and really juicy, towing impressive length. One of the better recent iterations of this rightly popular cuvee. 93 Points

Ned Goodwin, James Suckling, June 2023

Divine combination of smoke, spice and struck match. Leesy character on the nose, very stylish and potent. Long, fragrant finish that reminds me a bit of washing powder, oddly! Tense and lengthy, with lots of chewy texture. 16.5 Points.

Richard Hemming MW, Jancis Robinson - October 2023

Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay Half Bottle

Half Bottle / 2022

750ml / 2023 Magnum / 2023 Aged Release / 2016