Winery & Vintage Info
Elderton Wines Command Shiraz has established an enviable reputation since the first vintage in 1984. It is truly one of Australia’s best and most highly regarded Icon wines. Accolades have come from the world over for vintages such as the 1992, which was chosen by the influential wine critic Robert Parker in his U.S. magazine the Wine Advocate as one of the world’s Top 80 wines. The 1995 Command was awarded 95 points by Wine Spectator and placed in their Top 100 wines; the 2000 was awarded 97 points by the same magazine and placed 27 in their Top 100. The 1996 Command won the trophy for the best Shiraz in the world at the London International Wine and Spirit Competition.
The second generation of Ashmead family, and Elderton Co-Managing Directors, Allister and Cameron, as the current custodians of a rare piece of Barossa Valley viticultural heritage, continue their parents’ aspirations and expectations to produce a great wine of the world. The Command is truly an expression of place, and one of which the family intends to preserve for generations to come.
Estate grown on the Nuriootpa vineyard, the fruit is sourced from a single block planted circa 1894, classed as an Ancestor vineyard by the Barossa Old Vine Charter.
Our stoic 1894-planted Command vineyard is in the heart of the Barossa Valley, in Nuriootpa. At the western end the vines in alluvial soils border the Para River, and clay content rises in the soils as the vines head east towards our Cellar Door. Command is the sum of several small batch picks to ensure we capture every part of the vineyard at optimum flavour concentration. We hand harvested this fruit over three weeks, allowing for the ripening process across the different soil compositions.
The 2017 vintage saw us finish later than average, on 12 April. The long and gentle ripening season, peppered with some showers after a winter flush with rain, ensured for intense fruit concentration in the finished wine, with a depth of seamless tannin yet elegance only achieved in great years. Cool open fermentation using a combination of heading boards, for complete cap submersion, and gentle pump overs to achieve gentle extraction, ensured retention of fresh fruit characters while allowing for optimum tannin extraction. - Jules Ashmead & Brock Harrison
