Elderton Estate Merlot 2022 - Caravan Wines & Spirits

Elderton

Elderton Estate Merlot 2022

Style Wine Australia Red
Producer Elderton
Origin Barossa Valley (Nuriootpa)
$36 / btl
6 pack mixed six eligible

Build a mixed six around the bottle. Free Australia-wide delivery from $250.

21 left Ships from Brisbane
Open this first

What it tastes like.

 

Winemakers Comments

A proper winter, complete with enough rain and without a frost risk, allowed us to hope for some generous fruit flavours in our 2022 Merlot. With young vines we have to be careful to manage crop levels as we expect a layer of tannin and a serious aspect to this wine. Our Merlot is harvested just metres from the winery then fermented in open vats where we carefully manage extraction to ensure the fruit carries the wine with supporting tannin. We see abundant fruit and vibrancy in this edition of our Merlot, owing to the very favourable vintage weather with little rain and no heat spikes leading into harvest time. - Jules Ashmead & Brock Harrison
Style Medium bodied, vibrant, supple
Colour Deep crimson
Aroma Plums and cloves with a floral touch
Palate Juicy red fruits, peppered with spice and a velvety smooth yet structured finish
Maturation Predominantly older French puncheons, 14 months
Drink Drink now or cellar confidently for 5 - 10 years from vintage
Alcohol/Volume 14.8%
Nose

Dark plum, dark cherry, soft cedar, faint mint

Palate

Round dark-fruit weight with soft tannin and balanced acidity

The house

About Elderton.

Barossa Valley (Nuriootpa) ·Est. 1979

Elderton is a Barossa Valley estate on the banks of the North Para River in Nuriootpa, working a vineyard first planted in 1894 by the Scholz family. Neil and Lorraine Ashmead bought the property in 1979, made the first wine under the Elderton label in 1982, and the second-generation Ashmeads — Cameron and Allister — have run the operation since 2003. The house came to prominence with the 1992 Cabernet Sauvignon, which won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in 1993.

View 19 bottles from Elderton →
At the table

How to pour it.

  • Temperature

    16–18°C · cellar temperature, never warm

Vintage drinkers

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Bottle questions

Before you open it.

A few practical answers for storage, delivery, and choosing the right bottle.

How should I store it before opening?

Keep it somewhere cool, dark, and steady. Wine prefers cellar temperature; spirits are happier away from heat and direct sunlight.

How long will it keep once opened?

Wine changes quickly after opening; spirits and liqueurs generally hold longer if capped tightly and kept out of heat. If it is a special bottle, ask before opening and the team can give product-specific guidance.

Can I ask for a similar bottle?

Yes. Contact Caravan with this bottle name and the occasion; the team can suggest a close match, a safer gift, or a step up or down in price.

How is it packed for delivery?

Orders are packed in bottle-safe cartons. If anything arrives damaged or looks wrong, contact the team with your order number and a photo so they can sort the next step.

What about hot weather shipping?

The team avoids making one-size-fits-all promises around heat and carrier timing. For heat-sensitive or cellar bottles, contact Caravan before ordering and they can advise the safest dispatch window.

Need a specific answer for this bottle? The Caravan team can help with drinking windows, substitutions, and delivery timing.

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Elderton Estate Merlot 2022 - Caravan Wines & Spirits
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Why Caravan backs Elderton

Barossa Valley (Nuriootpa)

The Nuriootpa vineyard at the centre of Elderton was planted in 1894 by German settler Samuel Elderton Tolley's predecessors, the Scholz family; Tolley acquired the site in 1916 and gave it the Elderton name. The vines went derelict during the South Australian vine-pull scheme of the 1970s and were nearly grubbed out. Neil and Lorraine Ashmead took the property over in 1979 — reportedly with the previous owner offering the surrounding 72 acres of old vines free if they bought the house.

The first vintage under the Elderton label was 1982. Recognition came quickly: the Elderton Cabernet Sauvignon 1992 won the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy in 1993, the Australian show circuit's most prized red-wine award. Cameron and Allister Ashmead took the reins in 2003 and have widened the estate's footprint with a Craneford (Eden Valley) vineyard purchased in 2007 and a Greenock site added in 2010, giving the house holdings across three Barossa sub-regions.

The estate works dry-grown old-vine Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Grenache and Mourvèdre across the three sites. The Ashmead Cabernet Sauvignon and Command Shiraz are the cellar-worthy single-vineyard reds; the Estate range covers Shiraz, GSM, Cabernet, Riesling and Chardonnay; the second-label Ode to Lorraine Cabernet–Shiraz blend reaches a broader by-the-glass audience.

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