Elderton Neil Ashmead GTS Grand Tourer Shiraz 2009

Neil Ashmead GTS (Grand Tourer Shiraz, named in honor of the late co-founder of Elderton) comes from a single estate block planted in the 1950s that has been farmed biodynamically since 2006. 2008 was the first vintage of this wine. The 2009 Neil Ashmead GTS was matured on its lees in 100% new French oak hogsheads for 8 months. Very deep garnet-purple colored, it reveals intense blackberry, milk chocolate and black cherry aromas with an undercurrent of cedar, black pepper and a whiff of herbs. The medium to full-bodied palate gives quite a taut, elegant style that's very structured with firm fine tannins and crisp acid supporting the concentrated muscular fruit. This finish is long and still a little linear at this early stage. Give this wine another couple of years to soften and unfold and consider drinking it 2013 to 2020. Score - 92. (Lisa Perrotti-Brown, MW, erobertparker.com, Dec. 2010)