Farewell to Richard, hello to Jules

In somewhat surprising news, after 17 vintages working together, the Ashmead family has accepted the resignation of Richard Langford from the position of Senior Winemaker. Richard resigned in early June to take up a new opportunity with Michael Twelftree and the crew at Two Hands.

Richard has given his all at Elderton. He entered our fold after a tumultuous 2003 harvest in our then new winery on Railway Terrace in Nuriootpa. In the 16 years since, he has helped Cameron and Allister to steward and evolve the wines of Elderton to reflect the uniqueness of our three estate Barossa vineyards in Nuriootpa, Craneford and Greenock.

Richard is leaving with the absolute blessing of the Ashmead family, who believe this is a great opportunity for him. It has been a remarkable journey – Richard will always be a friend, and be remembered favourably in the history of our family wine company. We are also excited about the opportunity that has therefore arisen at Elderton, which is now rapidly approaching forty years since Lorraine’s father Wellington helped Neil and Lorraine to buy the property in 1980.

With Richard’s departure, we are delighted to announce that Julie Ashmead – Jules – will take the newly created position of Head of Production, overseeing both viticulture and winemaking at Elderton. Along with raising half of the third generation of Ashmeads with Cameron, Julie is the fifth generation winemaker at Campbells of Rutherglen, has worked vintages around the world and previously held positions at Two Hands and Turkey Flat. She has helped Richard in the winery at Elderton over many years and is excited about the opportunity of this new position.

Jules will be aided in the vineyards by our head Viticulturalist Peter Wild, and his new understudy Conrad Pohlinger. Conrad is a graduate viticulturalist/winemaker from Adelaide University who has recently joined the Elderton team to help take the vineyards to the next level.

We are now also on the search to find an operational winemaker to complete the team and help lead the charge into the new decade. We look forward to spreading the news of this appointment in the coming weeks.