I doubt that I’ll taste anything much better from these shores over the next 12 months. CAMPBELL MATTINSON

If you recognise the names David LeMire , Michael Hill Smith , Martin Shaw and Adam Wadewitz you will have an inkling as to the considerable pedigree of this project. Two are Masters of Wine for a start. Michael Hill Smith and Martin Shaw are of course the founders and brains behind both the Adeliade Hills Shaw + Smith and the Coal River's Tolpuddle. David Le Mire also helps run the show at the two aforementioned wineries and Adam Wadewitz is Chief Winemaker and one of Australia's finest winemaking talents bar none. 

MMAD is a joint project between these four vinous luminaries. Drawing on their years of experience and throwing their energies, and cash, into something new and exciting. Everything here is centred around a brilliant mature 18-hectare vineyards in the sandy soils of Blewitt Springs. Home to prized 80 year old grenache vines and 60 year old shiraz and chenin blanc vines it was the perfect piece of dirt to build this new chapter on.

The 2022 vintage marks the sophomore release of these wines and while the first vintage out the gate was already impressive, the second seems to have pushed ahead, Wada and the team zeroing in on how to draw the magic out of these old vines. 

The grenache is of course the expected star here, and as Mattinson points out below, the 2022 is ballistically good, propelling itself into the top tier of Australia's grenache new garde. McLaren Vale it could be argued is the spiritual home of chenin blanc in Australia, and MMAD's latest release has certainly helped cement that idea. Old vines in sandy soils delivering an aromatic, and textural wine with a little kiss of the ocean. However, the dark horse here is most definitely the shiraz which many saw as the real surprise packet last year and many thought might have pipped the Grenache on debut release. The 2022 will again be rivalling the grenache for top spot it seems with Marcus Ellis calling it a "revelation".

We have limited availability of these wines and with the pedigree of the team and reviews and scores like this, these will go quickl

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  1. MMAD Shiraz 2022
    MMAD Shiraz 2022

    If you’re lucky, and most of us aren’t, there comes a time in your life when it all comes together. I suspect that’s what’s happened with this Blewitt Springs vineyard, planted in the middle of the  Second World War, and the collection of wine people behind MMAD, all of whom have weathered a lot of summers in a lot of places in the pursuit of wine excellence. This wine tastes of a lot of right decisions, and of a lot of time spent in the journey to them. It has texture, balance, flavour and all that, but as my mum would say, ‘any dumb bunny can do that’. More importantly, what this wine has is all the nods and winks. I once wrote, a long time ago, of a moment where union legend David Campese ran straight through a bunch of defenders without breaking stride, or altering course. He did something, something that couldn’t be seen, and made the impossible look effortless. So too here. It has degrees of silk, fruit enough, a spinnaker on the finish, a volume of nuance. If there was such a thing for single vineyard, vintage, Aussie shiraz, this wine would be classified as first growth. (97) CAMPBELL MATTINSON, The Wine Front

    $77.00 As low as $69.30