2023 Smith & Hooper Merlot 6 Pack

93 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

One of the champions of Merlot over many years, and this is another example of what can come from the Limestone Coast in South Australia. It’s typically vibrant and alive with plummy red fruits and a touch of black fruit nuance with a lifted cedary oak note. I guess it’s more in the medium zone, but that slightly earthy, savory character adds a degree of complexity on the palate. Fine chalky tannins are typical of the region, and the oak is deliberately underplayed but still important.

Shanteh Wale - Halliday Wine Companion

Plum and Christmas cake with a frame of baking spice and oak. Some pencil, tin and clove. Here, your dollar buys you plummy, medium-bodied fruit with a classy oak regime, making it worth your while. Tannins are powdery but firm.

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

A few Merlot today. A few. Plum, strawberry, a bit of a tomato bush thing, a bit mulchy, light cedar oak. Medium-bodied, quite briary, green olive and lemon peel, a little grainy and warm, tomato again, with a finish of very modest length. It’s OK.