2020 Vintage

The 2020 vintage will be remembered as a challenging vintage but one with great rewards.

In this vintage Gaelic Cemetery Vineyard offers a range of three outstanding wines.

GCV Celtic Farm Riesling

This wine comes from three different blocks on the vineyard and our intention is to make a wine in the modern Australian Riesling style – crisp, dry and fresh. Pale green in appearance with typical Clare Valley Riesling citrus characters of lemon and lime.

GCV White Hut Riesling

The White Hut Riesling is a new entrant to the Gaelic Cemetery Vineyard portfolio, an opportunity to showcase the subregion where our well renowned vineyard is located.

GCV McAskill Riesling

The McAskill Riesling is made in very limited volumes, sourced predominately from a small block planted in the year 2000 that consistently produces Riesling of outstanding character and quality.

Growing Season

The 2020 growing season required a deft hand in managing the vines. The winter season provided well below average rainfall, followed by a windy spring that caused low fruit set and resulting low yields. The benefit of this was with the dryer conditions the vines found a natural balance of smaller canopy size suitable for the low yields limiting vine stress. Whilst December was particularly hot the key ripening period of January and February had moderate temperatures which allowed us to pick the grapes with good acidity, flavour and freshness. A 20mm rain event on February 1 was a welcome relief and provided a final drink for the vines before harvest started.