Shaw + Smith Balhannah Shiraz 2023

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Shaw + Smith Balhannah Shiraz 2023.

Shaw + Smith Balhannah Shiraz 2023
AU$100, 13.5% alcohol, screwcap, Adelaide Hills.

This is a wine of power and darkness and yet it remains elegant. It tastes of walnuts and plums, smoked meats, barbecued black cherries, cedar, dark soy, peppercorn and cocoa, and while there’s a boldness in play all these flavours are relayed in intimate, interwoven detail. There’s a logic to everything here; a motivation to the way each flavour bounces from one to the next. This impression is aided by the svelte, luxury nature of the texture. This is an elite wine. It’s complex, seductive and compelling.
96 points – Campbell Mattinson.

Campbell Mattinson

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He founded The Winefront, is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion (and former editor of Halliday magazine), and is the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He is 100% independent, and tastes between 5,000 and 10,000 wines each year, blind and in comparative brackets as often as is practicable.

More about Campbell Mattinson

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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