2024 Elderton Estate Family Riesling, Eden Valley

The 2024 Eden Valley Riesling is light and bright on the nose, with notes of lime blossom and crushed quartz, spring flowers and loads of brine. Sixty percent of this wine is from the newly acquired Menglers Hill vineyard (purchased by the Ashmead family in November 2022), with the balance coming from the family-owned Craneford vineyard. This is the first time the Ashmeads have used the fruit from this vineyard in a cuvée, so it is good to see this wine here today. In the mouth, it is talcy and fine, with suggestions of pink musk sticks and white fruits. This is a beautiful and saline wine. Drink 2024 to 2034.

94 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2024

I really like the 2024 Eden Valley rieslings. As you'd expect they are limey and crisp, all focus and velocity as per usual. There's the telltale regional Christmas lily note in there as well, but in this particular example there's an endearing clover blossom and dried honey tone ... just liminal, somewhere off in the olfactory peripheral vision. And it finishes super stony and composed with energy to burn and I like that, too. Nice one. Drink 2024 to 2034.

94 points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, Special Value, October 2024

Aromas of lemon peel, apple blossoms, slate and lime leaves. The palate is light-bodied with bright acidity, leading to a clean, crisp finish. Simple and refreshing. Drink now. 

91 points James Suckling, May 2025

Very light colour and a classic Oz riesling lime/lemon aroma, lovely and fresh. Intense and quite full flavoured, with elevated acidity taking over somewhat at the finish, and lingering on. Needs food, and could age well. Drink 2025 to 2034.

90 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, November 2024

Elderton Wines was established in 1982 by Neil and Lorraine Ashmead on a historic Nuriootpa estate with vineyard origins dating to 1894. The second generation has now taken the lead, with brothers Cameron and Allister and their wives Jules and Rebecca looking after all aspects of the winery. The family vineyards span the Barossa Valley floor and the cooler, higher elevations of the Eden Valley, giving the range a breadth of style that few Barossa producers can match.

The 2024 is the first release to blend fruit from two Eden Valley sites. The Craneford vineyard at 420 metres provides the wine's vibrant citrus character and fragrance, while the newly acquired Mengler Hill vineyard — sitting at around 500 metres on shallow skeletal soils, with Riesling vines planted in the 1940s — contributes the greater share of the blend at sixty percent, adding depth, drive and a more serious mineral edge.

The wine is bright and immediately expressive — sherbet, zesty lime and green apple on the nose, with white florals and a stony mineral quality. The palate is focused and driven, with pink grapefruit and lime building through soft mineral acidity to a long, clean finish.

A Riesling with real energy and the structure to develop well over the next five to ten years. Enjoy with a Thai green papaya salad with lime and chilli, and simply grilled garfish with lemon.

Drink now through early 2030s.