Winemaker Notes
Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2006!
M3 Chardonnay is a single vineyard wine ?rst made in 2000. Named after the three partners in the vineyard, brothers Michael and Matthew Hill Smith along with cousin Martin Shaw, M3 is a ?ner style of Australian Chardonnay that has the capacity to age in bottle.
2004 M3 Chardonnay has distinct M3 character- slightly austere, restrained fruit, a hint of honeysuckle and great palate length. In addition to the winemaking and maturation process, M3 Chardonnay strongly re?ects the cool growing conditions of the Adelaide Hills. With white stone fruit and savory nutty characters; this is an elegantly structured wine with a long, ?ne, bone dry ?nish.
"A seamless wine that has real presence and delivers plenty of personality. Lithe and refined, with lovely peach, orange and spice aromas and flavors. Harmonious, many-layered and very, very long. Drink now through 2014."
-Wine Spectator
Professional Ratings
One of the most popular and versatile white wine grapes, Chardonnay offers a wide range of flavors and styles depending on where it is grown and how it is made. While it tends to flourish in most environments, Chardonnay from its Burgundian homeland produces some of the most remarkable and longest lived examples. California produces both oaky, buttery styles and leaner, European-inspired wines. Somm Secret—The Burgundian subregion of Chablis, while typically using older oak barrels, produces a bright style similar to the unoaked style. Anyone who doesn't like oaky Chardonnay would likely enjoy Chablis.
A narrow band of hills and valleys east of the city of Adelaide, the Adelaide Hills region is a diverse landscape featuring a variety of microclimates. In general it is moderate with high-altitude areas cooler and wetter compared to its warmer, lower areas.
Piccadilly Valley, the part of Adelaide Hills closest to the city, was first staked out by a grower named Brian Croser, in the 1970s for a cool spot to grow Chardonnay, then uncommon in Australia. Today a good amount of the Chardonnay goes to winemakers outside of the region.
Producers here experiment with other cool-climate loving aromatic varieties like Pinot Gris, Viognier and Riesling. Charming sparkling wine is also possible. On its north side, lower, west-facing slopes make full-bodied Shiraz.