Elderton Wines was established in 1980 by Neil and Lorraine Ashmead, now run by their siblings Allister and Cameron along with their families. Cameron’s wife Jules, from the Campbell wine dynasty, has been involved on the winemaking side since 2015, and fully took over in 2019 as well as keeping her hand in the winemaking back home at Campbells in Rutherglen. The couple also found time to raise three sons!
Jules Ashmead holds court at Noble Rot Soho
This was the first time that Cameron had brought Jules on tour, and it was a delightful insight to get her views, and plans for the future, about this iconic Barossa estate. They are certainly not sitting still, with more vineyards being bought including a foray into the new kid on the block in this area, ‘single vineyard Grenache’. Elderton has in the past put its Grenache into the GSM, with the 2022 showing particularly well over the lunch.
The first Elderton Command Shiraz was made in 1984 from the family’s original vineyard, Nuriootpa, which was planted in 1894.The wine has been made every year apart from 1989 and 2011 (when the weather was too wet) and in 1991 when Neil the founder decided that he needed a quick financial hit to pay for school fees so released the wines as base wines.
These are powerful but balanced Barossa Shiraz, and, yes, they vary from 14.5% abv to 14.9% abv, with the aim to get to 14.5% abv but the team is not going to water down its liquid gold. Each year allocations sell out, 75% being sold in the local market with the US being a key player on the export market. Elderton no longer exports to Russia but apparently the Russians get their fix of Command Shiraz in Bali.
So how were the wines tasting?
Elderton Command Shiraz 2010
Power and elegance, starting off with an incredibly perfumed nose that gives you the perfect introduction to the style of these wines. Cocoa spice, mesmerising silky purity, blackberry essence, with aniseed and spice, velvety cool, clean, fresh berry finish with a lingering essence of pure class.
Elderton Command Shiraz 2013
Brambles, foraging, wild berries, blackberries, gentle spices; again you find the purity and freshness of the dark fruit lifts this wine giving it great complexity, shine and class.
Elderton Command Shiraz 2018
Delicate and refined, plummy and dark raspberries, savoury and spiced, more savoury to the fore than the others.
Elderton Command Shiraz 2020
Purity and precision, wow this is a wonderfully spiced, full-on wine that is held in check by the bright precise berry notes, ripe but fresh, savoury with a perfect fruit essence, hints of black forest gateaux, cocoa, spice, plummy, luscious, moreish. A real star.
Elderton Command Shiraz 2021
Vibrant and immediately attractive, first there is purity and freshness then, as it opens up, there is a silky, expressive luxurious feel. It is focused, linear, with gentle spices of Dundee cake, perfect plum jam, forest floor aromatics, delicate dark red berries and hints of dark chocolate buttons.
Elderton Command Shiraz 2022
The latest release, and this is a stunning wine, a classic Command style with plummy notes, spice and bright red fruits, giving a wine that delivers well on release but will gain stature with age. Hints of tapenade, silky, plummy mid-palate then bright clean cut wild berries and some brambles, seamless, pure and a classy wine that tells the Nuriootpa story.
Single Vintage Grenache
Elderton Winifred Grenache 2024
The grapes for this wine come from low-yielding bush vines in the Craneford vineyard which is owned by the family, and is based in the Eden Valley; the fruit was formerly used by Thistledown. Still youthful vines (some 15 years old) giving a cool, fresh, clean, vibrant style of Grenache. Delicate balance between perfectly dried herbs and luscious clean red berries, these wines will evolve with vine age but are already showing class.
Elderton Wellington Grenache 2024
Sourced from 51-year-old vines in the Greenock vineyard, which is located on the Western Ridge of the Barossa Valley. Spiced, perfumed, tobacco, blackberries, cassis, muscular. This is evolving beautifully and has that perfect balance of dried thyme and juicy, luscious fruit, with just a hint of dried cep.
Over lunch
Over lunch we also tried the Elderton Eden Valley Riesling 2024 which delivered a lovely cool, balanced Riesling that benefited from a touch of tangerine zest to give it an extra dimension whilst the Elderton Barossa GSM 2022 was the perfect red for an afternoon hitting 32°C, this fresh, vibrant red had plenty of freshness and depth to match the Herdwick Leg of Lamb served with sheep’s Ricotta.
Elderton Wines are imported and sold in the UK through New Generation Wines which is a commercial partner of The Buyer. To discover more about them click here.
