2023 MMAD Vineyard Blewitt Springs Chenin Blanc Half Bottle 375ml, McLaren Vale

Half Bottle 375ml

The '23 vintage was wet and cool, and that plays out in the electric drive and vibrancy of fruit, though there is considerable intensity, too. There are orchard florals, along with Akane apple, green almond, stone fruit kernel and firm, just ripening peach along with briny sea spray notes. A mix of crushed and whole-bunch-pressed fruit fermented in concrete and old oak has built quiet texture, finely upholstering the structure, while also adding a refined pithiness of feel. There is a lot going on here but in such a serenely harmonious way, and it will age superbly, too. Drink to 2035.

97 points Special Value Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, May 2025

The first words that come to mind? Heaven. Chenin Blanc is a variety that has so much to offer when it’s treated kindly from the ground to the glass. This clearly starts with incredible fruit, and although there is lots of tasty winemaking at play, the fruit sings through both the chorus and the verse. There’s plenty of funk here with flinty, smokey and cheesecloth notes of reduction. It works, with glossy lemon notes, a tickle of mixed spice, sea spray and flashes of crisp nori aligned. Some frankincense framed toasty oak is well played, too. On the palate, that classic Chenin swell of acidity adds to the fluidity and dance-like motion in the mouth. Let’s be clear, though, we are talking Nijinsky not Swan Lake. Impressive length, spine-tingling acidity and glossy crystalline fruit at the core of it all. The fine phenolics are detailed and layered, and the result is a creamy mouth feel rather than anything to do with chalk or graininess. What a wine. Up there with Australia’s best Chenin Blancs. This really is a beauty, with plenty of intelligence behind the aesthetics. Drink to 2040.

96 points Wine Pilot, April 2025

The nose is mineral-driven, with focused aromas of lemon peel, lime zest, orange blossoms and talcum powder. The palate is medium-bodied with laser-like acidity and notes of grapefruit rind, mandarins, sea salt and oyster shells. A well-balanced and textural wine with a pure backbone. From vines planted in 1964 and 2000. Delicious. Drink or hold.

94 points James Suckling, October 2024

The MMAD Vineyard Blewitt Springs Chenin Blanc is made from some of the oldest Chenin vines in McLaren Vale, dating back to 1964.

The grapes for this wine were hand-harvested, and the combination of crushed and whole bunch pressed fruit was fermented in a mixture of both concrete and large format seasoned oak before maturing on lees in old French puncheons.

About MMAD Vineyards

MMAD Vineyard is a collaboration between wine identities Michael Hill Smith MW, Martin Shaw, Adam Wadewitz and David LeMire MW.

At the heart of it is a old vine vineyard in Blewitt Springs. This is an elevated part of the McLaren Vale defined by its fine and well-draining Maslin sand soils, and in the MMAD vineyard, the subsoils consisting of a layer of ironstone pebbles.

The Grenache vines in the vineyard were planted in 1939, and stand next to Shiraz and Chenin Blanc vines, the oldest of which were planted in 1941 and 1964 respectively. The tiny parcel of Cabernet Sauvignon is very much a support act here.