MMAD Vineyard Shiraz 2023
MMAD Vineyard Shiraz 2023

MMAD Vineyard Shiraz 2023

Cellar or drinkRed wineAustralia97 points - The Wine PilotScrew cap

Old vines, new classic đŸ”„đŸ·

The 2023 MMAD Vineyard Shiraz comes from seriously old vines—planted in 1939 on the Blewitt Springs sands of McLaren Vale. This is site-driven Shiraz that trades sheer power for perfume, elegance, and mineral edge.

Expect vibrant dark cherry, black tea, and subtle florals, layered with spice and fine tannins. It’s full bodied but structured, with a savoury undertone and long finish that speaks to both the vineyard and the hands behind it.

MMAD is the collective project of Michael Hill Smith MW, Martin Shaw, Adam Wadewitz and David LeMire MW—and in just a few short vintages, it’s already turning heads.

This is modern McLaren Vale Shiraz with a soulful old-vine twist.

Drink window,2025 to 2037
Type,Red wine
Varietals,Shiraz
Vintage,2023
ABV,13.5%
Country,Australia
Region,South Australia
Sub region,McLaren Vale
Bottle size,750ml
Bottle closure,Screw cap

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Flavour & structure
Black fruitSpice & pepperFine tanninsLong finish
Food pairing
Red meatSteak & BBQ

What the experts say about this wine

The accompanying wine notes tell of the latest and coolest vintage yet for this vineyard, but the upshot was a wide picking window combined with small, bunches and intense fruit flavours. The result is an absolute stunner of a wine, boasting a layer of what can only – and perhaps a little too lazily – be described as cool climate-inspired spiciness. It’s more inherent than a flat-out feature and to be fair was present in the ’22 release, one ingredient in a complex range of scents and flavours that take in black cherry, plum, cassis with lifted aromatics in rose and pressed flowers and dusty cacao, bitter chocolate and, yes, spices with anise and pepper in the lead. Fruit, oak, tannins and spice are packed tight, an intense youngster that will age a beaut. In the meantime, it’s bright, it dances, it weaves, it’s a seamless engaging young Shiraz of the highest quality.

Very deep, dark, dense red-purple, young and bold. Mixed spices and dried herbs with sage to the fore, purple fruits too, violets and blueberry, which power through on the palate as well. Full bodied yet elegant, with fine, powdery tannins, the entirety lingering on for a long time on the finish and after-palate. Hints of graphite and broken ironstone. A splendid shiraz with great potential for improvement in the cellar. 

It opens quite reductive and sullen, which makes the wine seem a bit hard and ungiving, though given some time, it’s beginning to loosen up somewhat. And all this is fine if you are cellaring it, but if ordering at a restaurant, well it could perhaps present an issue? It’s meaty, spicy and peppery, quite sappy, with a sour blueberry/cherry flavour, tannin has a bit of grainy graphite character and grip, which is good, and the finish has some blood orange tang, iodine, and a bergamot tea thing happening. Quite twiggy and hard is the impression, and kind of stoic. It’s tightly coiled, and I can sense quality underneath, though it’s kind of hard to love. Also, as a result, quite hard to rate. All I can say is it’s not a wine for now, and maybe not one for me. Others, of course, will have their own opinion.