Winemaker Notes
Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate
96 Points
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Command Shiraz is from a lovely vintage, and the wine shows this. It has aromas of salted licorice, dark chocolate, blood plum, pomegranate, cracked peppercorn, blood and ferrous. This is a wonderful wine. It closes with licorice, graphite and wet steel as well as dried herbs. In 2003, the Ashmeads built their winery in Nuriootpa, and from then on, the wines were vinified there. In 2004, a mild January resulted in fantastic color production and flavor development. However, heat wave conditions in mid-February saw acidity decline at a rapid rate in conjunction with rising Baumé levels. Harvest began earlier than first predicted, with some Shiraz picked in late February—the earliest for many years. Quality expectations returned after the hot spell, with a prolonged Indian summer in March and April, with temperatures between 25 and 30 degrees Celsius and an absence of rain, creating the perfect slow-ripening conditions.
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Wine Enthusiast
The current release, 2003, is an excellent wine, but this vintage kicks it up a notch. It's brighter, fresher and more vibrant than its amply endowed precursor, bursting with peppery raspberries. Creamy and rich, yet wonderfully balanced, and while you could drink it now, it will also cellar well for 10-plus years.
Cellar Selection
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
The Barossa Zone encompasses the Barossa Valley and Eden Valley. Some of the oldest vines in Australia can be found here.
Barossa Valley of course is the most important and famous wine growing region in all of Australia where 140+ year-old, dry-farmed Shiraz vines still produce inky, purple and dense juice for some of Australia's best wines.
In the cooler, wetter Eden Valley sub-region, the Hill of Grace vineyard is home to famous Shiraz vines from the 1800s but the region produces also some of Australia’s very best and age-worthy Rieslings.