2025 Shaw + Smith M3 Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills

Superlative right now and, what’s more, promises so much over the coming years. You’ve gotta love a Chardonnay with those qualities already on board at just one year of age. The scent captivates in grapefruit and citrus, preserved lemon, saline notes, almond cream and spice. Vibrant, intense and layered in flavour, M3 moves fast, elevated by a crunchy acidity with an almost linear drive and a solid core of tantalising lemony citrus in the engine room. There is a lovely detail and poise here right now to explore with a warm almond mealiness, grapefruit pith, citrus, nectarine, woodsy spice and light savoury notes coming on stream on a developing creamy texture. Reveals a deeper side which can only build from here with more time in bottle. It’s built to last. M3 combines the best qualities of 21st Century Australian Chardonnay. Drink 2026 to 2035.

96 points Jeni Port for Wine Pilot, April 2026

An iconic Adelaide Hills offering in good form here. Fine cedar and nougat leap from the glass alongside white nectarine, peach, pear, cinnamon apple and almond meal. A substratum of flint lingers beneath, present but well integrated, while Meyer lemon and subtle stone fruit blossom emerge with air. The sum is a perfume of both complexity and freshness — traits that carry faithfully to the palate. Good pillowy texture wraps around a core of cedar, nutty tones, river stone minerality, cinnamon, peach, almond cream and nectarine before tightening through a fine vein of phenolics and a wash of bright acidity. Excellent length, with freshness a defining feature. The 2025 has a slender feel — not a fault, but a style. A very successful one.

94 points Tom Kline for Wine Pilot, April 2026

Very light, bright yellow colour with a wood-shavings note overlying citrus and stone fruit aromas, the palate quite intense, with a little nougat richness and decent persistence, promising to build more complexity and richness with time. Drink 2026 to 2035.

92 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, May 2026

Shaw + Smith was founded in 1989 by cousins Martin Shaw and Michael Hill-Smith MW — the latter Australia's first Master of Wine. Over three and a half decades they have built one of the Adelaide Hills' most trusted and consistent labels.

Long before the current considerable body of premium Chardonnays from Adelaide Hills, there was the M3. Rightfully considered an icon of the region, it served as a forerunner of contemporary wines from this variety. A regional blend, the fruit for the M3 is mostly estate grown in the Lenswood, Piccadilly and Lobethal vineyards, and complemented with fruit from a handful of trusted growers.

2025 was a long, even growing season with steady fruit development. Conditions were warmer and drier than on average, but overnight temperatures remained cool throughout, resulting in flavourful bunches with high natural acidity.

Hand-picked, whole bunch pressed into French oak barrels for primary and malolactic fermentation. Batches are blended in stainless steel before bottling.

Complex and attractive aromas give this wine a strong opening. Lifted citrus blossom and fruit notes lead the way with subtle hints of stone fruit, nougat and baking spice emerge with air. The aromas carry on to the finely textured and lightly creamy palate that is long, precise and lit up by a bright acidity.

A delicious wine that deserves something equally delicious on the plate: King prawns with Doenjang butter glaze and perilla, butter-poached Murray Cod with lemon thyme velouté or barbequed bamboo shoots and lotus root with shiro miso and toasted sesame.

Highly enjoyable now but built to cellar for a decade.