MMAD - The Best Vintage Yet
The old vines of Blewitt Springs are a precious resource, and an important part of Australia’s viticultural history. In early 2021, MMAD Vineyard was purchased by a quartet made up of winemakers Martin Shaw and Adam Wadewitz, and Masters of Wine Michael Hill-Smith and David LeMire. MMAD takes its name from their first initials. The MMAD wines aim to reflect the unique terroir of Blewitt Springs and the rare old vines that thrive there. Winery Note
MMAD Chenin Blanc 2025
Quince, pear and peach flavours with lovely saline gloss and waxiness. There is a more pronounced varietal character this year with the texture to balance. The acid profile is beguiling, appearing soft and gentle yet with an incredibly strong line and persistence. The 25’ is a beautiful iteration, maybe the best, with complex flavours stretching across the palate. Drink now or put in the cellar, as this will age gracefully. Mitch Milicich, FWC
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. 97 pts, Shanteh Wale, Wine Pilot
Old vine Chenin charm on show, bringing the kind of effortless confidence that sets this grape variety apart. Little wonder Chenin is taking off with consumers. Mid yellow. Archetypal varietal aromas of apple, pear, peach meet a thread of grass, herbs, almond biscotti, hints of marzipan and stunning floral honeysuckle, citrus blossom. So smooth and warmly textural with a taste that is both generous but remains focused on a core of bright apple, pear and white peach slowly expanding, roaming wider into lemon curd, citrus peel, hints of green almond and honeyed notes. Great length and presence. 96 pts, Jeni Port, Halliday Wine Companion
MMAD Grenache 2024
Blewitt Springs Grenache has garnered a strong following due to wines of such as this. The 24’ carries freshly sprinkled spice, exotic and intense red fruit with purple florals lift. The fruit hinting at molasses and intense cranberry, yet remaining very savoury throughout. This has a spark and levity on the palate yet with firm muscle under the hood...it carries a fineness and detail that top tier Grenache manages to accentuate. Mitch Milicich, FWC
Now bottled under diam, a preference based on tasting trials. This is in excellent form – duskily floral, mineral, with old-vine depth and balance, silky, plush in the right way through the mid-palate, bunch notes adding ultra-subtle spice and chewy tannin to the sandy, silty skin tannin. There’s something about the fruit, off those ’39 vines on sandy soils, that is so distinctive, with deep blue and purple florals, sultry and spicy, dark red fruits, ripe but weightless. There are also blue fruit tones and a maritime, iodine quality, an iron oxide note present but not dominant. The aroma is showstopping but not showy. In fact, it took me some time to taste the wine, such is the allure; but the palate confirms that this is likely the best release yet. 97+ Marcs Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
Cherry, raspberry, a dried flower and aniseed perfume, spice, nori and salted pistachio. It’s medium-bodied, red fruit and cherry, a fine sandy and dusty tannin grip, black olive and samphire, fresh acidity, with a crisp, saline finish of excellent length. Strawberry dusted with pepper carries on the aftertaste. Distinctive wine. A very good iteration of this wine for me. Drink: 2026 - 2034+, 95 Points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front.
MMAD Shiraz 2024
This is old vine fruit with a portion of whole bunches presenting a style that is darkly fruited with a swathe of intensity, richness and uncompromising impact. The style speaks to northern rhone Syrah and doesn’t hold back with the potency or volume in the glass. Tasting through the back vintages, this wine benefits with bottle age, allowing the fruit to settle and gain composure. Mitch Milicich, FWC
This has been the surprise packet of the MMAD wines, with it duelling for position with the grenache and chenin blanc. Some whole bunch, concrete and oak vat for ferment, then raised in older, larger oak, as usual. Saint-Joseph resonances. Evocatively aromatic and spicily so. Smoky, darkly mineral. Blackberry pastille, tapenade, lavender, grilled game meat, crème de violette, iodine and nori, star anise, ground clove, allspice, green and black peppercorns, malted barley, freshly ground coffee, powdery rust. Like the grenache, the nose holds such intrigue, demands attention. That’s matched by the silky flow of the old-vine fruit on the palate and the superfine natural tannin. This is blisteringly good, again.
97+ Marcus Ellis, Halliday Wine Companion
A briar of black fruit and savoury, creeping herbs—bilberry, dark cherry and pepperberry layered with notes of kombu, coastal rosemary and wild, untamed greens. There’s an earthiness here too: turned soil and dark, stony sand grounding the aromatic lift. It feels like an afternoon bush walk—banksia brushing past, scrub at your ankles—so vivid is its sense of place and transportive quality. Powder-fine tannins settle gently through the mid-palate, while olive tapenade, nigella seed and a touch of twiggy oak lend structure and savoury detail, supporting the core of blackberry fruit. This is full flavoured, detailed with its own distinctive character but sits in a medium to full body for its freshness and brightness. You won’t forget this experience any time soon. Try this with Lamb chops and old school mint sauce and reinvent the marriage of the two. Old school dish and very new school modern wine. 97 Points, Shanteh Wale, Wine Pilot
