Elderton Ode to Lorraine Cabernet Shiraz Merlot 2020

The winemaking team at Elderton believe this is truly the hidden gem in the Elderton portfolio of premium reds. A Cabernet/Shiraz/Merlot blend was added to our portfolio from the 1992 vintage. It was a belief that through blending only the best parcels of fruit from the Elderton vineyard, a truly wondrous and complete wine could be made that showed the highlights of the three grape varieties.

The decision was made from the 2002 vintage onwards for the wine to be renamed (from CSM) in honour of co-founder of Elderton Wines, Lorraine Ashmead. This wine is dedicated to a woman who is greatly admired in the Barossa for her passion, dedication and commitment to not only Elderton, but to all the wondrous things our beautiful valley produces.

Estate grown on the Nuriootpa vineyard, with deep alluvial silt over red and brown earths and limestone. The fruit is sourced from Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz and Merlot blocks planted between 1964 and 2017.

Sufficient winter rain led us into the 2020 growing season, however warm and windy conditions during flowering lead to some crop loss. We are used to relatively small yields from our Cabernet Sauvignon at over 60 years of age, however 2020 took crop levels to a new low!

The ripening period was reasonably cool and given the low yields we achieved amazing flavour ripeness which is very evident in this 2020 vintage. Careful cap management was necessary in our open fermenters to ensure tannin extraction was complete without over-extraction given the small berry size. Once pressed off skins the individual parcels were transferred straight to a combination of new and seasoned French oak for malolactic fermentation and further maturation.

The final blend (45% Cabernet Sauvignon, 42% Shiraz, 13% Merlot) was assembled prior to bottling ensuring the Cabernet Sauvignon tannin structure , being assertive and long, was balanced with the fruit drive and density of the old vine Shiraz and a touch of spice and softness from the Merlot. Jules Ashmead & Brock Harrison - Winery Notes