Description
MMAD Vineyard is a partnership of Martin Shaw, Michael Hill Smith MW, Adam Wadewitz, and David LeMire MW. MMAD takes its name from their first initials. Michael and Martin, who are cousins, founded Adelaide Hills winery Shaw + Smith together in 1989. Adam and David are now co-CEOs at Shaw + Smith, where Adam is Chief Winemaker, and David Head of Sales and Marketing. In recent years Michael, Martin, Adam, and David have worked together closely on other single vineyard based projects including Tolpuddle Vineyard in Tasmania, and the Shaw + Smith single vineyard wines from Balhannah and Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills.
They are thrilled to be collaborating on this exciting project – 100% single vineyard wines from the MMAD Vineyard, perfectly located in the dress circle of Blewitt Springs. The vineyard has some of the oldest plantings in Blewitt Springs, with grenache planted in 1939, shiraz in 1941, and chenin blanc in 1964. Blewitt Springs combines sandy soil, which enhances aromatics, and cool sea breezes that maintain freshness. MMAD Vineyard also has a layer of ironstone pebbles beneath the sand, which contributes to the wines’ structure and complexity.
About this wine: 100% Chenin Blanc from a vineyard planted 1964. The vineyard has the fine Maslin sands found in Blewitt Springs, and is exposed to the fresh sea breezes from the south-west. Below the sand is a layer of ironstone pebbles, and this combination of sand, ironstone, and cooling winds gives both perfume and structure to the wines.
The 2025 vintage – Good winter rainfall and mild spring conditions supported strong vine growth and ideal flowering, resulting in even bunches. Summer was slightly warmer than average with no extended heat, carrying through to harvest. Rainfall was minimal from summer on, but early moisture was enough to sustain the dry-grown vines. A warm, dry finish gave perfect, disease-free ripening.
A combination of whole bunch pressed and crushed fruit was fermented in old oak and concrete, before maturation in old French oak puncheons. Time on lees and malolactic fermentation has added texture, balancing the fresh acidity.
Complex and intense with lifted notes of honeysuckle and fresh quince. The finely structured palate is shaped by citrus pith, ripe grapefruit and subtle waxy notes. Intense yet restrained, the wine balances layered flavours, phenolic grip and sea spray freshness with mineral tension and bright acidity. It has the concentration and structure to develop fine tertiary characters in bottle over the next 15 years.
97 points, Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion “The MMAD Chenin Blanc is a wine that grows significantly in bottle, leafing out fine pages of detail, yet this is already an engaging tome. Not advanced, not laying things on too early, with refinement central, but it’s a wine of immediate quality and complexity, which it will no doubt expand on in time. A little reductive right now, but in the best way, with saline, oyster-shell edges to the Lisbon lemon, pomelo and tart golden apple fruit flavours. Green pistachio, cypress, crushed stone and senesced fennel fronds and seeds accenting. Textural, but with such energy – pithy, vigorously alive. A superb release.”
97 Points, Shanteh Wale, Wine Pilot “The evolution of this wine never ceases to interest and amaze me, there is incremental texture and chiselled edges to the wine wrapped in this slinky, saline and mineral driven package. Pomelo, buddhas hand, citrus and yellow plum. Pumice stone and white pepper. Some fennel seeds too. There is a coating to this wine, not quite oily but slick in nature, it sticks to the sides of your palate before rumbling down like a steam train of power with innate acidity and drive. Another exceptional release and a benchmark of what Chenin Banc can do in this country. This is a wine that accompanies so many morsels, from fish with fins to straticella or fried Balmain bug tails.”
95 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front “Quite some perfume here, almost into lilac, violet and mint, nutty, gently spicy, apple and citrus the main fruity things, though it’s not specifically fruity, which is a good thing in my book when it comes to Chenin as, to paraphrase, a little Chenin goes a long way with me. It’s calm and balanced, again a nutty and quiet saline character in a green olive sort of way, a fine chalky and dusty grip, closing with a cool finish of excellent length and a cinch of lemon peel. Well, MMAD, this is a very fine Chenin you’ve got me in to.”
95 points, Campbell Mattinson “There’s a gravitas to this release. It remains frisky and juicy and fruity, but it has a genuine flare to the finish, it’s bolstered by perfectly integrated woodsmoke and cedarwood characters, it has a saline edge, and the texture sits at a perfect just-satiny point. There’s a juiciness to this wine, as mentioned, but it feels dry through the back half, almost pebbly, with an itch of grip there too. It’s nuanced now but time will bring exaggeration in the most entertaining of ways. ”
95 points, Nick Ryan, The Weekend Australian “Each of the four partners will admit in a quiet moment that while the grenache lured them here, it’s the chenin that really intrigues them. It’s easy to see why. It’s wine built on wax and pith, a touch of cloth and dry herbs. The softly saline tang of wet, sandy towels left in the back of the car. Taut and talcy. Lovely acidity and a fine, phenolic taper.”
RRP $55 Our Special INTRO Price $44.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine – LIMITED TIME
