Hot 100 Wines for 2017/18 announced, Shaw + Smith takes out top spot

An Adelaide Hills staple is crowned the most drinkable wine of 2017/2018: Shaw + Smith’s 2016 Pinot Noir.

8 December 2017 by David Knight

The Pinot was revealed as this year’s Hot 100 Wines winner at the old Regent Cinema on Friday, December 8 in front of around 500 people who gathered for the annual Hot 100 Wines awards night and magazine launch. The 2016 Pinot Noir was one of almost 1400 drops blind-tasted by a team of judges who hailed from all parts of the country to find this state’s best 100 wines to drink right now.

The Hot 100 judges said Shaw + Smith Pinot Noir embodied the Hot 100 judging week’s MO of finding wines that “drink easy”.

“An absolute pleasure to slurp, it’s a walk in a forest with all the cherries, mushrooms, herbs and spices you could hope for — all in season, all at once,” they said of the winning wine.

Shaw + Smith’s sister label, The Other Wine Co, was responsible for the 2015/16 winner with its 2015 Grenache, making it two in three years for the Adelaide Hills-based wine company. Rounding out the 2017/18 top three, Taylors’ 2017 Tempranillo and Jericho’s 2017 Rosé came second and third respectively.

Read on for the Hot 100’s top 10 wines, or explore the full 100 bottles here

Other awards handed out on the night included the Howard Twelftree Award, which was won by Valerie Henbest and Peter Heaney for their outstanding contribution to gastronomy with their various businesses including The Smelly Cheese Shop, Dough and Market St Cafe.

Hahndorf Hill Winery’s 2017 White Mischief Gruner Veltliner was judged the Hottest Wine Label for its Parallax-designed branding while ceramicist Jordan Gower won this year’s Drink Dine Design Emerging Designer Award for his set of handcrafted dishes, Oysters Five Ways.

The Hot 100 Wines magazine with the full 100 wines including tasting notes, as well as feature articles and recipes, will be on the streets from next week.