2024 MMAD Vineyard Blewitt Springs Grenache, McLaren Vale

MMAD red wines have a whole new groove and by that I mean they are now sealed under Diam closure, and what a win that is for those that are lucky enough to own a Coravin because this sure is a wine to be savoured each and every sip. Holy heavenly aromas batman, this is seduction in a glass. Tea rose, sweet pea and framboise rise from the glass, followed by an evocative turn into a Chinese tea shop: oolong, burdock root and fine spice. There’s an otherworldly finesse on the palate, where silty, time-worn tannins settle into place with quiet authority.  Acidity pulls back like a gathering tide before surging forward with freshness and energy, giving the wine both tension and lift. The fruit and shape reminds you of its Grenache but not like anything you have had before. This is truly special in every way. What to drink with this, well stewed game meats would work nicely but I would be inclined to go for Chinese pork floss milk buns whilst you fall into a soft couch in total happiness. Remarkable wine.

98 points Shanteh Wale for Wine Pilot, July 2026

Now bottled under diam, a preference based on tasting trials. This is in excellent form – duskily floral, mineral, with old-vine depth and balance, silky, plush in the right way through the mid-palate, bunch notes adding ultra-subtle spice and chewy tannin to the sandy, silty skin tannin. There’s something about the fruit, off those ’39 vines on sandy soils, that is so distinctive, with deep blue and purple florals, sultry and spicy, dark red fruits, ripe but weightless. There are also blue fruit tones and a maritime, iodine quality, an iron oxide note present but not dominant. The aroma is showstopping but not showy. In fact, it took me some time to taste the wine, such is the allure; but the palate confirms that this is likely the best release yet. Drink to 2036.

97+ points (Special Value) Marcus Ellis for Halliday Wine Companion, May 2026

Grenache is having more than a moment, what we are seeing is a veritable downpour of great wines. Here is one Grenache that goes deeper into exploring the grape variety, seeking out the variety’s darker herbal side and it’s an intriguing taste. Immediately captivating in aromas of dark cherry, plum, aniseed, baking spice and toast. Great depth of flavour runs smooth across the palate, quite elegant in execution, with a rush of wild herbs a central feature. Deep set black cherry, plum, wild herbs, chocolate, vanilla are folded in and spread across balanced tannins. Great drinking now and into the future. Drink to 2036.

95 points Jeni Port for Wine Pilot, July 2026

Light-medium ruby with a subtle rim of purple; the bouquet is shy and elusive, some rose-petal and spice fragrance peeping out. The wine is just medium in body with a note of graphite, and it has mild, powdery tannins to match the fruit weight. There is a hint of fruit sweetness but it's largely in hiding at this juncture. Lighter and more elegant than the 2023. (PS. Next day this had opened up, and two days later it was better still, so decanting and extended breathing is recommended.) Drink to 2036.

93 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, June 2026

About this producer

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 an 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.