2007 Command Shiraz

95 points

Pow, right out of the glass! Classic Aussie blockbuster shiraz aromas: slight mint/herbal, fleshy, juicy black plums and blackberries squeezed in your palm with the juice running down your forearm. Oh my.

Natalie Maclean, Sept 2011

5 stars

Listed on Australia’s prestigious Langton’s Classification in the ‘Excellent’ category, this delivers vintage after vintage and ages well. Aromas of smoke and berry fruit rip from this full-bodied, beautifully balanced red. It’s a hedonist’s delight with waves of rich and luscious flavours—sweet, ripe mulberry, juicy Bing cherry and nuances of earth and slate—washing endlessly over the palate and dry, lengthy aftertaste. There’s also oak and a solid tannin structure needing time to knit in.

Vic Harradine, www.winecurrent.com

Elderton's 30 Vintages Celebrated in Print

An article by Ray Jordan in The West Australian on 11.9.11 has told the story of the Ashmead family's bold move into the wine industry and the journey the family and Elderton Wines has had in the 30 vintages since. The 2008 Ode to Lorraine was named as Pick of the Week:

2008 Ode to Lorraine
93 points

An appealing soft generous wine of silky-smooth structure and supple, rich flavours. It's a lovely vibrant wine with a little savoury leathery character to it, overlayed with a decent dusty eathiness. The majority blend of cabernet and shiraz carries the wine but the softness of the merlot adds an important dimension. Excellent wine.





2009 Neil Ashmead Grand Tourer Shiraz
93 points

Lifted floral, spicy notes on the nose. It's a highly perfumed wine made from a 70-year-old biodynamic single vineyard on Cameron Ashmead's property. It's 100 per cent shiraz. Gets 11 months in all French oak and is left on lees in barrel. Has a soft, generous mouth-feel with fine tannins and fine-grained oak. It's a sleeker, sexier wine.

2008 Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon
91 points

This is sourced from the Elderton property. It was picked just as the heat was beginning, so it wasn't impacted by the extreme heatwave of that year. This is a stylish, angular and quite linear cabernet. Has fine red berry potes over some light cedary oak. Well balanced and poised with the structure to evolve in the cellar. This is predominately American oak.

2010 Eden Valley Shiraz

91 points

Love this juicy vibrant shiraz from Eden Valley. Bursting with spicy and slightly pepper cherry and plum fruit. The oak is perfectly complementary and the finish pure and velevty smooth. A super elegant wine for drinking over the next few years.

Reviewed by Ray Jordan in The West Australian 'Fresh' 18/8/11

Halliday writes of Elderton's 30 Vintages

James Halliday has written a great article of the story of Elderton Wines and the Ashmead family in an article in The Weekend Australian Magazine (3.9.11), as Elderton celebrates 30 Vintages in 2011. To read the full article click here. We also received some great reviews:

2008 Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon
96 points

The quality of this wine shone through in the mini-vertical tastings of the top labels. The ’01 was good, the ’02 and ’06 very good, the ’04 outstanding, the ’08 an eyelash behind the ’04. It has superb drive and intensity to the back palate, with a lingering finish and aftertaste, the tannins positively silky. It has developed exceptionally well since first tasted in January 2010.

2008 Ode to Lorraine
95 points

A blend of 55% cabernet sauvignon, 37% shiraz and 8% merlot, with open fermentation concluded in barrel. The colour is deep but clear, the bouquet and palate offering blackberry, blackcurrant and plum aromas and flavours. There is ample structure from the cabernet component, giving line, length and balance to a quality wine. The toasty oak is evident, but does not challenge the fruit. Mercifully, the shocking pink colour of prior vintage labels has (almost) disappeared.

2010 Eden Valley Shiraz
92 points

From the Craneford Vineyard purchased by Elderton in 2007. It has vivid colour, and a fragrant plum-and-blackberry bouquet. The medium-bodied palate has great purity coupled with excellent texture and overall mouthfeel, and a long, supple finish. The wine was pressed straight to older American oak puncheons, amplifying the texture but leaving no distracting vanilla oak footprints.

#cabernetday enjoyed across the world

1 September is Cabernet Day and was celebrated across the world. Those who enjoyed a Cabernet or two also shared their experiences via Twitter #cabernetday.

Here at the Elderton Cellar Door we had our range of current release Cabernet Sauvignon single varietals and blends available for tasting.

Some happy participants also shared their Elderton Cabernet experiences via Twitter:

@miss_shiny Grand designs for delicious dinner tossed out the window. Elderton's 2008 #Cabernet is sustenance enough.

@artofandyellis Been meaning to crack this for a while now, perhaps tonight in honour of #CabernetDay #Barossa 1992 Elderton Cabernet: http://pic.twitter.com/GnLXXPZ *as a side note, this wine is infact the Jimmy Watson Trophy Winner from 1993!

We now look forward to next year's Cabernet Day and what it may hold in store for us!

Cheers!