Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir 2021

Shaw + Smith own three vineyards in the Adelaide Hills, at Balhannah, Lenswood, and Piccadilly totalling 59 ha. The vineyards are planted to varieties that perform particularly well in the region, namely Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Shiraz.

Older vines, the Lenswood Vineyard, sorting tables, small batch open fermenters, or just more insight in the capricious nature of Pinot Noir. Whatever the reason, at the winery they think their Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir continues to get better and better. Their first release was in 2007.

The 2021 vintage of Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir is complex, aromatic, medium bodied with deceptive power, silky tannins and long term ageing potential. The wine is showing black cherry, darker fruits, underlying gamey aromas with great flavour and length.

Love the tannin structure of this wine. It feels both perfumed and inlaid with fruit, but more impressively it sheets across the wine in a wide spread, integrated and balanced while at the same time being assertive. It gives the wine a bit of class, not that it lacked it in the first place. This is a polished release, with varietal red berried fruit flavours splashed with earth, chicory and dry spice. It’s ultra primary now, as you’d expect, but it feels settled, and so it’s already drinking well. Fruit and the formation of tannin here though are its main quality markers. - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, 93 Points

The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Pinot Noir
Country - Australia
Region - Adelaide Hills, South Australia
Vintage - 2021
Bottle Size - 750ml 
ABV - 13.5%