Elderton Command Barossa Valley Shiraz 2014

 The Elderton Command Shiraz has established an enviable reputation since the first vintage in 1984. It is often regarded as one of Australia’s best and most highly acclaimed 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. 

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. Drink by 2040.
97 points
Ned Goodwin – James Halliday’s Wine Companion

"Thumping Barossa shiraz from Elderton. Single vineyard.
It’s a big, sweet, bruising shiraz but it’s also a well balanced one. It lays asphalt, toffee, milk chocolate and dense blackberried fruit flavour down in powerful – not to mention emphatic – style. It’s smoky, clovey, liquoricey and raked with dark, earth-splashed tannin. Warmth is everywhere but flavour washes with it. It’s an excellent example of the bigger, almost to the point of exaggeration, style of shiraz."
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front,"