WHO WE ARE
Meet the Ashmead family. We are Jules + Cam and Bec + Al. We are passionate about making wines that speak of the remarkable communities that they come from, be that the beautiful Barossa, or further afield as we start to spread our wings with Small Victories Wine Co.
We have been in the wine game for over 40 years, with our family building Elderton Wines from dream to reality over two generations. Elderton has a proud history of producing world renowned and award-winning Barossa wines with traditional Barossa varieties including Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Riesling. We are custodians of some of the world’s oldest surviving vineyards, dating back to 1894 and 1915.
In 2020, as our family business turned 40, together we decided it was time to explore some different wine styles, varieties, and regions. We set out to create Small Victories Wine Co and make a range of wines that are fresh and modern; wines that look to the future, with sustainability and climate change in mind; but most importantly, wines that are seriously delicious.
Small Victories allows our family to have a bit of fun, making wines that can break the rules and not always conform to those ideals that Elderton holds dear.
This allows Jules, as an ever inquisitive winemaker, to branch out and play. The vision of Small Victories is to make wines that are light and bright in style, with an obvious appeal to those that enjoy the cosmopolitan lifestyle that we so very much love here in Australia.
We are also looking to the future and building something for our children (who are the third generation of the Ashmead family) to take hold of and further define and enhance. Small Victories creates a space for the next generation to really play in, and who knows the boundaries they will crash through. It will be exciting to watch.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
SERIOUSLY DELICIOUS WINES
Life’s too short to drink bad wine.
We are committed to making wines that are simply delicious and can be enjoyed as young wines, showcasing their most vibrant primary fruit flavours. No cellaring necessary, yet no hurry to drink them either!
As Bec says, “The wines are seriously good but are made with an element of fun. You don’t need to sit around talking about them, instead enjoy the moment as you savour them with friends and loved ones.”
We are a proud South Australian family, and we celebrate the diversity and quality of grapes grown by other South Australian families. If not sourced from our vineyards, we work with grape growers who also have a real passion for their farms and the varieties they grow.
There might be some varieties you haven’t heard of before, or even unheralded growing regions, but we promise the wines will be wonderful in flavour and hopefully a little bit thought provoking if you want them to be.
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
From vineyard to bottle, we are committed to a sustainable future for our family, our wine company and for the planet. We believe that when small victories in sustainability are combined they add up to big changes!
Our family owns four vineyards across the Barossa and the vineyards and winery are certified by Sustainable Winegrowing Australia, a collaboration between The Australian Wine Research Institute, Wine Australia and Australian Grape & Wine. This is a voluntary program that requires Elderton and the Ashmead family to meet best practice standards for all elements of sustainability: environmental, economic and social. In all sincerity, we have been doing this for years but felt now was a good time to get the stamp to prove it.
Wines are made by Jules at our family-owned winery in Nuriootpa, where we also produce the Elderton wine range. Our winery has solar power across the production facilities, we obtain about 75% of our required water for the winery through capturing and storing rainfall and 100% of the winery water is recycled back onto our vineyards.
All Small Victories Wine Co wines are made vegan friendly as no animal products were used during the making of these wines.
We have worked with our packaging suppliers to bring you more environmentally friendly packaging. Our bottles are lightweight, requiring less energy to produce the glass and transport the wine to you. We use 100% recycled cardboard for our cartons, and both the cartons and empty wine bottles are able to be recycled by you, when you finish enjoying our wines.
Read more on our sustainability page.
GIVING BACK
We are lucky to get to do what we love every day. So a key part of Small Victories Wine Co is giving back to the community.
We decided early on that we would like to partner with community organisations or charities, with a portion of tasting fees at Cellar Door to be donated to these organisations. And with every wine purchase you are making a difference as we also donate a portion of each bottle sold.
CELEBRATING THE SMALL VICTORIES
The old saying, ‘A journey of a thousand steps starts with one,’ resonates with us, and is one which we often unfortunately forget in the busy lives that we all lead. Hence, Small Victories was created to ensure that together we can celebrate the small victories along the day, week or massive journey that we are on.
‘Happiness is a way of travelling and not a destination,’ is another quote we love. We think that whatever it is you are working towards, allow yourself to be proud of each achievement along the way, no matter how small you think it might be. Put simply, ‘Enjoy the ride’.
We’d love you to share your small victories with us on socials. Use #celebrateyoursmallvictoriestoday and tag us @smallvictorieswineco.
A BIT MORE ABOUT US
Small Victories Wine Co is headed up by the second generation of the Ashmead family – Jules + Cam and Bec + Al.
Jules is our leading winemaker. Wine is in her blood, as she comes from a family with five generations of winemakers and winemaking history in Rutherglen. Jules has worked making wine on four continents around the world and has a great appreciation for different winemaking techniques and trying new things.
As winemaker for Small Victories Wine Co, Jules has worked with some amazing grape growers in a quest to find the best grapes from regions around South Australia. By working directly with the families who grow the grapes, she has been able to select parcels of fruit that sing.
Jules and Cam are parents to three boys, Angus, Wills and Louis. You’ll see Jules on local streets with her running group early in the morning, and you’ll spot Cam out on his bikes – both on the road and heading out to off-road trails.
Bec and Al are parents to three girls, Charlotte, Sophie and Annabel. Bec loves a five o’clock glass of bright, modern white wine (and occasional light to mid bodied red wines) with a bowl of potato chips and uses her mornings to be super active. And we love it when Bec has baked… seriously the best carrot cake you’ll ever eat. Al loves to cook and is a life-long Carlton fan so 2023 was a great year for him, with high hopes for 2024 and beyond!
And our Brand Manager, Karli, is integral to helping us bring Small Victories Wine Co to life!
Karli has worked with the Ashmead family, with the Elderton brand, for over ten years, so we know her well. She was the first person we thought of to be Brand Manager for our new project when Small Victories Wine Co was dreamt up.
You will see Karli out hosting events, as well as chatting to you on the phone or email if you have any queries.
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You might also be interested in reading more about our wine club – have wine delivered direct to your door four times a year!
CHEERS
We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about the family behind Small Victories Wine Co, and we look forward to sharing many delicious wines with you.
Celebrate your small victories today!
