Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/912565
100 / the tasting panel / december 2017 WINES DOWN UNDER Michael Hill Smith, Co-Owner of Australia's Shaw + Smith, and Anthony Dias Blue, The Tasting Panel's Editor in Chief. SHAW + SMITH AND TOLPUDDLE VINEYARD DELIVER EXCEPTIONAL WINES by Anthony Dias Blue M ichael Hill Smith hails from the elite Australian wine family behind Yalumba. As Australia's first Master of Wine, he could have chosen any position within his family's high- profile business and claimed it as his own. Instead, he decided to partner with his cousin Martin Shaw and start an entirely new winery near his home in the hills north of Adelaide. This partnership, aptly named Shaw + Smith, came to fruition in 1989 and was one of the first wineries to plant vines in this cool, elevated region. Shaw + Smith developed two vineyards totaling 130 acres with an emphasis on Sauvignon Blanc, which turned out to be an excellent decision: The result- ing wine quickly became Australia's most popular version of this variety. A Rising Australian Star