If I had to pick just one weakness in the Shaw + Smith portfolio it is the Pinot Noir. Stylistically, this is a wine that has moved from bold and dry red-esque, to lean and underdone and now with the Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir 2019 it has finally hit Goldilocks mode (ie just right).
Crucially, this is largely Lenswood fruit, sourced from the S + S vineyard planted in 1999. From the first aromatic flicker of gentle red fruit this seems right. It’s vinous, varietal and well balanced, all rhubarb, redcurranf and then a flicker of vanilla oak before plenty of acidity.
Lithe. Beautifully formed. Correct acidity. It’s comfortably still Hills Pinot, complete with the mid palate fruit exuberance. And it all makes for a genuinely enjoyable wine that I could easily finish a bottle of.
Yes.
Best drinking: probably better next year and for the next five, but why wait. 18.5/20, 94/100. 13%, $49. Would I buy it? Shaw would (boom tish).
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2 Comments
For the last 2 years I’ve tried to enjoy Australian Pinot but I find it largely, too big.
To my palate it’s more Shiraz lovers Pinot than anything else. I would include Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley, though I’m sure there are exceptions. Tasmania while youngish, should have a good future, but again, they appear to be affected by the influence of unpredictable seasons.
One of the few successes I experienced was Epis Pinot 2017. Light frame with all the nuances of what I expect in Pinot, with great length. Expect to pay plenty at $69/bottle but I’d accept it for the quality. A genuine Macedon Pinot Noir!
Andrew, with your wider field of view perhaps you could offer a few alternatives to suit my palate?
Cheers
Colin
Colin, I hear you. There’s a tendency to go larger with Australian Pinot, and it shows. Macedon is exactly what I was going to suggest, and Derwent/Coal/Huon Valley (but not Tamar) in Tassie.
In Macedon, you could start with Bindi, or Josh Cooper, Curly Flat is excellent but might count as too bold for a start. Further afield you might like some of the Upper Yarra wines (like Gembrook Hill/The Wanderer), in Tassie maybe Jim Chatto’s wines too.