Vintage release – 2014 Command Shiraz and 2015 Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon

by Jess Ruciack

1 March is an exciting day on the Elderton calendar. It is annually on this date that we release the newest vintages of the Command Shiraz and Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon!

Allister Ashmead, Co-Managing Director of Elderton, notes, “It is the day where the results of many years of hard work come to fruition and are showcased to the world with the launch of the new vintages of Command and Ashmead.”

In the winery the fruit from both single blocks is handled with care and attention, to ensure the resultant wine is remarkable. Open ferments with attention to colour, flavour and tannin management are all key, as is the beautiful new oak that is specially selected for these wines to rest in after fermentation.

2014 COMMAND SHIRAZ

Command Shiraz is one of Australia’s best and most highly regarded icon wines. The single vineyard block was planted in 1894 and the Estate has grown around the gnarly old vines. The Command is considered a centenarian block by the Barossa Old Vine Charter.

2014 Command Shiraz
97 points
Halliday’s Wine Companion 2018

Hewn of 1894 ancient vine oomph and tannin management of aplomb, this is power corseted by a filmy, gossamer texture and sheer, strident vinosity. Put it this way, the wine could come from nowhere else, yet the overall impression is one of Elderton’s newfound restraint. Oodles of dark fruit, anise, tar, camphor and a Cadbury milk chocolate creaminess coat the palate. There is a barrel ferment smokiness, too. The extraction levels are a point; the use of French and American oak sensitive. All is in a harmony and perfectly suited to the style.

2015 ASHMEAD CABERNET SAUVIGNON

The Ashmead family almost pulled a low-yielding block of Cabernet Sauvignon in the late 90s, but instead decided to reward the vineyard for its decades of service and excellence, giving it a single vineyard designation. Cost and time became irrelevant in the pursuit of making the Barossa’s best Cabernet Sauvignon and the family believes this wine, the Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon, is equal to any of the world’s best.

Allister has said, “One of the greatest pleasures we derive as family winemakers is to see the joy on people’s faces when they discover something unexpected. More often than not, this joy is often associated with tastings of our Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon.”

2015 Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon
96 points
Halliday’s Wine Companion 2018

A deep crimson edging on opaque, this wine brims with cabernet’s varietal stash of attributes: currant and a swag of dark plum, dried sage, bouquet garni and a gentle lilt of grassiness. At first gentle and massaged by the sheer density of flavour, the tannins – grape and classy French oak – grow in stature as the wine opens; with well handled acidity levels serving as an echo chamber, drawing the flavours back across the senses. While corpulent, this wine’s sheer mass is impeccably tucked in at the seams. To be slowly unravelled by time.

BUY DIRECT FROM THE WINERY

We are excited to announce you can now purchase the 2014 Command Shiraz and 2015 Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon online and through our Cellar Door.

Visit our Elite Single Vineyard wines page, in our online shop, to purchase now and have the wine delivered direct to your chosen address.

There are limited stocks of the 2014 Command Shiraz and 2015 Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon, so please purchase soon to avoid disappointment.