The Auswine Forum

NOBLEROTTERSSYDNEY - GORDON'S COMMAND VERTICAL W/ CAM ASHMEAD - Glass Brasserie, Sydney (2/09/2026)

Special guest Elderton co-proprietor Cameron Ashmead generously supplies four bottles of his flagship shiraz to book-end a generous lucky-seven from Gordon’s cellar. What a terrific night. It was great to hear the history of Elderton – the genesis of the business being home-made wine in a Saudi Arabian bathtub – through its early evolution, the ‘put-them-on-the-map’ Jimmy Watson-winning 92 Cabernet, to the point where – thanks to the cyclical turmoil that besets the industry, they are now – astonishingly – the third oldest continuously single-family-owned winery in the Barossa, after only Yalumba and Henschke. All from a business that only started in the early 80s. Command Shiraz is sourced from a vineyard planted in 1894 and first bottled in 1984. Wines were drunk in pairs from old to young; everything was double-decanted around one to three hours before consumption.

• 2018 Pressing Matters Blanc de Noirs - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
  {diam, 11.4%} [Graeme] Disgorged in 2025. Clear straw; no hint of pink at all. Faint brioche notes, with a floral yeastiness. The palate is mildly-flavoured, light/medium-weight at most. Seems more citrus/mango flavour than the strawberry hint I was looking for. Medium/high acidity, autolysis texture, quite tart on the palate. Near medium length finish. Not entirely convincing; I wondered about the ripeness of the source grapes to be honest. Seems like some more cellar time could only help.
• 2002 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {cork, 14.5%} [Cameron] Classic aged sweet American oak, vanilla, chocolate, plum and raspberry jam, hint of liquorice. A real wine to wallow in. Medium weight, with low/medium powdery tannins, the flavours integrating nicely on the palate. Fully developed, in something of an old-fashioned style but it’s held together better at twenty than of lot of turbo-charged porty wines have at ten. Ready to drink, but still seems like it will hold a while yet. Very impressive, and the only wine tonight where no further evolution seems likely.
• 2012 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.5%} [Cameron] A decade younger, and this is very much fresher and more nuanced. Dark iodine and blackberry nose. Oak is more subtle. Palate is medium-weight, polished with ripe fruit showing jammy richness, but not at the expense of medium dusty tannins nor medium acidity. Even palate, medium long finish that shows no heat at all. You could drink this all day long, really. Still improving, should go another decade easily.
• 2013 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.8%} [Gordon] The first of two wines that seemed rather shut down and even a bit sullen. This 2013 was made by Peter Lehmann, and was the product of a very warm vintage. Surprisingly, I find this a bit lean and leafy, almost with a herb-like character. Seems to have patchy kind of black fruit on the palate, medium weight, but almost as though it’s a mix of over & under-ripe grapes. Low/medium gritty tannins, medium acidity. Seems to sit mostly towards the front of the tongue, and finishes almost medium length. Struggles for identity. Not sure that further aging will help.
• 2014 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.5%} [Gordon] Made in-house, from another warm vintage. Beautiful, fruit-driven blueberry nose. Subtle oak only; these see puncheon maturation, not barrique. The palate has a spicy character, with a faint leathery note. Medium powdery tannins give a frame, but they’re fine-grained and soft. More front-palate again, but this seems better than the ’13, if less impressive than ’12. Still, a few more years will only help.
• 2015 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.7%} [Gordon] Fresh blackberry jam nose, only really past the first flush of youth. Seems way younger than the 14. Medium powdery tannins and acid, nicely ripe but not too-hot black fruit flavours on the medium/full-bodied palate, which spreads evenly along the tongue. Fruit and other structural elements beautifully balanced, medium/long finish. Very good, there’s a decade of improvement here.
• 2016 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.6%} [Gordon] This offers intense spicy black fruit, with faint oak seasoning only, gentle powdery tannin. Some development just takes the sharp edges off. Medium weight; a low-key sort of palate tends a little to syrupy in texture, but it’s luxurious rather than simply sweet, for instance. Medium length finish, needs a little more time to shed the puppy fat…
• 2017 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {cork, 14.9%} [Gordon] This tricky vintage doesn’t seem to have had a huge impact on the wine. It’s quite youthful, with a dark, briary nose. The palate is more spicy, but the ripe black fruit doesn’t completely cover a white pepper edge to the flavours. Ticks all the ‘medium’ boxes for structure, with decent chalky tannins offering support. Open sort of palate, with a medium length finish – a good save for the vintage but this is likely to peak fairly early. The only wine with a cork seal – some kind of logistical reason behind it that I can’t remember.
• 2018 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.6%} [Gordon] Ruby red. These wines are now getting into the youthful category now. Super-ripe blackberry and blueberry, but no raisin character, despite the quite high alcohols. This feels quite young and fresh on the medium/full palate, with medium chalky tannins, faint spice and controlled oak. Medium/long finish, even palate. Essence of Barossa goodness; will improve for at least a decade.
• 2019 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.9%} [Gordon] Blackberry and malt. Pure and powerful from this terrific vintage. Medium/full weight of blackberry and currant fruit almost submerges the powdery tannins. This is fresh and vibrant, with a medium/long even palate highlighting great fruit. There’s no sign of the alcohol on the palate, as you might expect. A triumphant wine.
• 2021 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 14.9%} [Cameron] ‘The perfect vintage’ according to Cameron. This is still pretty closed. Rich, polished black fruit, with a palate seemingly lowish in acidity, medium/full weight of fruit dominating chalky tannins. It’s nevertheless very approachable, but it’s something of a waste to drink now; you’re only getting about 30% of the wine you’ve paid for. Keep twenty years and watch it blossom.
• 2022 Elderton Shiraz Single Vineyard Command - Australia, South Australia, Barossa
  {screwcap, 15.2%} [Cameron] So young! So pure. Black plums, malt, jam, soft graphite flavours and textures. Medium/full weight, plenty of dusty tannins, even palate; long and linear. Super polished; the alcohol helps the texture, but seems to impart no heat. Long finish, rich and ripe. Needs at least a decade’s cellaring.
• 2018 Pressing Matters Riesling R139 - Australia, Tasmania, Coal River
  {375ml, screwcap, 8.8%} [Graeme] No botrytis here. R139 is hint to the indicative residual sugar level. Clean, developing nose of steely apple crumble. Medium-sweet, with medium acidity; development clearly present on the light/medium-bodied palate. Apple & honey flavours. Medium acid, medium length. Good wine, will keep still, although I thought it lacked the magic of the 2010 I had some time ago. Still very commendable.

Command isn’t a wine I’ve had much experience with, but on this showing it’s pretty impressive. The style has changed considerably over its forty-year history, so it’s a bit hard to see an intact line running through the wines, but the last decade’s worth of releases clearly reflect ever more care being taken in the vineyard and ever more thought given in the winery. And the price isn’t too silly compared to wines of similar pedigree. Much thanks to Gordon & Cameron for generosity and insights.

Excellent and thoroughly readable notes as always, Graeme - many thanks.

I have very modest experience with Elderton Command Shiraz, but, on the basis of this tasting (and your notes) then maybe I should become better acquainted. How would you compare the style to Rockford BP?

Cheers
Allan

Hmmm. Thinking back to the relatively small number of BPs I've tasted, I'd say Command is a bit more savoury, less overtly rich and chocolatey; perhaps a bit less full-bodied. Although, honestly, they're probably two wines where - for 21st century vintages at least - there's only a fairly small difference in overall style. Vintage will probably play a bigger role than the intrinsic style of the wines.

Great notes Graeme. Thanks for the write-up.

Can you please clarify for me the 2013 vintage: it was made by Peter Lehmann or it was made at Peter Lehmann? Peter passed in June of that year, so maybe he was involved until then?

Most likely "at", in that case, Travis. They had help & guidance from various people in the earlier years. It's hard enough getting notes on the wines at these dinners, never mind trying to shorthand the guests' comments as well!

Cheers Graeme. Your notes are always gratefully received. I was wondering if it might have been Phil Lehmann who helped out?