About
James and Sophie Erskine live and work on Jauma farm on Peramangk land in the wild hills behind Adelaide. They share the property with their three children, 700 cherry trees, a pear, apple and apricot orchard and 5 acres of young vines. James has been producing wines from the McLaren Vale since 2010 while Jauma farm was purchased in 2018. Sophie and James offer community yoga weekly, quarterly retreats on the farm and an annual cherry harvest, wine and music festival, JaumaFest.
All Jauma wines are from McLaren Vale and are farmed by Fiona Wood and David Gartelman. The wines are made and bottled on the farm without any additions or subtractions. Jauma is distributed to twenty export markets and is celebrated for its stable, vibrant and pure wines.
Prior to beginning Jauma, James trained and worked as a sommelier, being awarded Australian Sommelier of the year 2007, and dux of the Australian international court of master sommeliers exams 2007. James was the chief judge of South Australia’s largest wine show, the Hot100 from 2010-2013.
2023 New Releases
2023 1000 Fires, Chenin (95%) Sauvignon Blanc (5%)
Vines: Chenin from Lulu’s Blewitt Springs block and Sauvignon Blanc from Jim’s Peter’s Creek block.
Winemaking: Chenin is destemmed and pressed to barrel and tank. Sauvignon destemmed and fermented on skins for 2 weeks.
Tasting Notes: Yellow green in colour, citrus and apples, long acid drive, very spacious on the pallet with an ethereal mouthfeel. 13%
2023 Somewhere on another Hill, Sauvignon Blanc, Peter's Creek
Vines: Peter's Creek, farmed organically by Dave Gartelman. Red clay interspersed with broken shale and quartzite.
Winemaking: Destemmed, fermented on skins for four weeks, then pressed to barrel.
Tasting Notes: Strong tropical, citrus nose. Super pure pallet. Light and quenching.
12.5%
2023 Lulu Old vine chenin, Blewitt springs
Vines: Blewitt Springs vineyard planted in the 1940s, deep white sand on clay and schist. Farmed organically by Lulu Lunn.
Winemaking: Free-run pressed to old French 500L barrels.
Tasting Notes: Such an immense and proud wine, pure and bold. Feel free to cellar me forever 🙂
13%
2023 Danby Grenache
Vines: Sellicks - farmed by Dave Gartelman, owned by Jim Zerella. Red clay interspersed with broken schist and slate. 80m elevation.
Winemaking: Carbonic Maceration for two weeks then pressed to tank for 11 months.
Tasting Notes: Vibrant pink, lively aromatics of raspberry, cherry and spice. Juicy and fleshy.
12%
2023 Like Raindrops Grenache
Vines: Sellicks, farmed by Dave Gartelman, owned by Jim Zerella. Rich red clay interspersed with shale and schist.
Winemaking: Destemmed, fermented to dry on skins then pressed to tank and barrel. Pressings of both Lilies and Wood vineyard grenache are added at blending pre bottling.
Tasting Notes: Bright raspberry and arneis. Long persistent acid drive sitting inside a fleshy mouthful of red berry fruit.
12.5%
2023 Tikka the Cosmic Cat, dry farmed Shiraz (75%) Grenache (25%), Clarendon – farmed by Fiona Wood
Grey sand on ironstone. 230m elevation
Harvested and fermented separately. Shiraz fermented on skins with 10% stems. Grenache is destemmed, fermented to dry on skins. All aged in older French puncheons. Lively deep mulberry in colour. Powerful aromatics of plums, crushed rock and spice. Medium bodied with mouthwatering tannins. 12.5%
2023 Lillies old vine grenache, Mclaren flat
Vines: McLaren Flat, planted in the 1940s, deep white sand on clay. Farmed organically by Fiona Wood, owned by Karen and Peter Cahill.
Winemaking: Long maceration on skins, pressed to barrel. Free-run only.
Tasting Notes: Big, bold and commanding attention, ripe red fruits and spice, big pallet weight but without extraction. Wow. 13%
2023 Ralphs dry grown Grenache, Clarendon
A Jauma staple but with only 500 bottles produced from the entire site. Grey sand on ironstone, bushvines. Oh so pretty, rose, strawberry, arneis. Very finely structured pallet. 12.5%
(Image: James Erskine - Jauma Wines / www.jauma.com)