Shaw + Smith
Cousins Martin Shaw, winemaker, and Michael Hill Smith, Australia’s first Master of Wine, decided in 1989 to form a partnership to produce exceptional wines from the cool Adelaide Hills region of South Australia. The first Shaw + Smith vintage was a 1990 Sauvignon Blanc made from purchased fruit. All they have done in the subsequent twenty years is produce some of Australia's most elegant and pure Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Shiraz, fight for recognition of Australia's diverse sites and wine styles, and become global ambassadors for Australia's fine wine producers. Not bad.
Shaw + Smith purchased 100 acres of land at Woodside in the Adelaide Hills in 1993, and over the next two years planted 40 acres of Sauvignon Blanc and 30 acres of Chardonnay. In 1999, Michael’s brother, Matthew, came into the business as a silent partner and the Woodside vineyard was named M3 (for Michael, Martin and Matthew). Later that year, Shaw + Smith purchased another 100 acres of land - part of a racehorse stud- on Jones Road, between Balhannah and Hahndorf.
Shaw + Smith’s aim is simple: to make contempory, high quality wines that stand among the best of their type, both nationally and internationally.
M3 Chardonnay and Shaw + Smith appear in the Wine Spectator’s 25 Benchmark Australians which “exemplify the highest level of quality the country has on offer, also represent the key wineries, the producers that consistently make distinctive, outstanding wines.”