Winemaker Notes
#97 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2025
Deep crimson in color, the 2022 Elderton Barossa Valley Estate Cabernet Sauvignon offers aromas of chocolate, intense black forest fruits, and savory herbs. A rich and complex palate opening with black berry compote coupled with a dark chocolate note and hints of cedary oak to follow. The palate profile is long and powerful, with a seamless berry coated tannin profile to balance. Full bodied, rich, and classy.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Black beans, bark, blackberries and roasted herbs on the nose, followed by a full-bodied, savory and silky palate. Excellent freshness and drinkability.
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Australian Wine Companion
Bright crimson with high-toned aromas of blackberry, red plum and blackcurrant fruits with hints of fine spice, dried herbs, purple flowers, raspberry coulis, chocolate and earth. Mid-weighted with a swoop of sour cherry, powdery tannins and a gently spiced, sapid exit.
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Vinous
There's a great color to this 2022 Barossa Cabernet with notable purity of leafy cassis aromas and oak well integrated in support. The wine has good integrity, holding tight with ample tannins and bright layers of flavor, which open up to a generously proportioned finish. Enjoyable now and will hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Barossa Cabernet Sauvignon leads with cassis and pomegranate, dried bay leaf and a hint of thyme. In the mouth, the wine is gently minty, loaded with chewy tannin and pulled out long through the finish. It is here that the red apple and levity start to shine through. This is Barossa, and it is Cabernet, but it does not descend into "dry-red" territory, for which I am eternally grateful.
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Wine Spectator
Salted black licorice, cedar and dark chocolate notes mingle with cassis, blackberry and blueberry preserves on a dense frame alongside firm pepper accents and dense tannins. Finds finesse on the long finish, where the details fan out and malty Assam black tea details emerge.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.