March 2021 Releases: Shaw + Smith 2019 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir $49 & Guthrie Ashton Pinot Noir $30

Shaw + Smith 2019 Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir $49

Style: Delicate, fragrant, light to medium bodied but with deceptive power, silky tannins and medium term ageing potential. The 2019 vintage has depth of flavour and concentration, with darker fruit, spice and a savoury edge. A structured and textural wine from a low yielding year. Season: The 2019 growing season was one that challenged even the most experienced and well equipped vignerons. Those that made the most of it produced small crops of very clean fruit with wonderful flavour and intensity. Natural acidity is a feature in all the wines despite the warm dry summer. Source: Predominantly from our Lenswood Vineyard, at 455 - 500 metres elevation. Undulating with east and west facing aspects, the soils are brown loams over clay with broken shale on the ridges. The vineyard was planted in 1999. Vinification: Hand picked and sorted. Combination of whole berry and whole bunch fermentation. Fifteen days on skins. Matured in French oak, majority puncheons. Background: Older vines, the Lenswood Vineyard, sorting tables, small batch open fermenters, or just more insight in the capricious nature of Pinot Noir. Whateer the reason we think our Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir continues to get better and better. Our first release was 2007. Serve: Enjoy in a large red wine glass, with some charcuterie. Ideal temperature is 16 - 18 degrees C. Cellar potential: Now until 2025. Trophy: Best 2019 Pinot Noir, 2020 Adelaide Hills Wine Show

Guthrie Ashton Pinot Noir 2019 $30

Grapes hand selected from single vineyards in the Adelaide Hills by winemaker Hugh Guthrie, then nurtured into premium wines at Hugh’s property, Rocky Glen at Gumeracha. Pinot Noir from a single vineyard in Ashton, an east facing site in Tregarthen Road, planted in 1989. Wild fermented in small open top fermenters, then aged in French oak. Bottled without fining or filtration. Tasting notes: Super aromatic and floral, with blackberry and raspberry leaf, fleshy berries and crunchy cherries. This aromatic profile is derived from three clones: Morey St Denis clones 114 & 115 (made with 30% whole bunch) and the Australian MV6 clone (made with 80% whole bunch). Though there’s a lot of whole-bunch treatment in its production, it’s doesn’t end up being the most distinctive characteristic of the wine. What shines through is the incredible fruit characteristics snaking out of your glass and into your mouth: raspberry, cherry, cranberry, and pomegranate set off by secondary characters of charred meat and earth.