Our spring release is a moment when we get to share with you the labours of years past, and this year’s spring release is one that we’re immensely proud of. Coming from a set of excellent vintages, the wines are classic Greenock Creek with the added quality enhancement of subtle refinements in both vineyard and winery. It’s early for reviews on these, but the Halliday Wine Companion’s Dave Brookes has broken the ice with seven gold-medal-level reviews across the ten wines released, including a 97 for our 2018 ‘Roennfeldt Road’ Shiraz.

A few recent changes at Greenock Creek Vineyard and Cellars, along with updates from our Vineyards, Winery, Cellar Door and Events.

A trophy win for Greenock Creek at the Marananga Wine Show with the 2021 Cornerstone Grenache taking out Best Grenache in show award. 

We recently decided to begin presenting Greenock Creek wines to a select list of Australian wine commentators. Validation of our wine quality is not necessarily the prime motivator, although seeing them listed amongst the ranks of Australia’s finest is very comforting. We’ve always aimed to be a proud standard bearer for rich and powerful Barossa red wines, and believe adopting a proactive approach to creating engaging conversation with leading wine commentators is an important element of that process.

The 2021 Barossa Valley vintage was proclaimed by many to be the best in living memory. A year that produced exceptional wine. Typically one generation of winemakers talks to the next generation about these truly great years. Promising their time will come to see the Barossa Valley at its absolute finest. However, our winemakers will have a two-chapter story to tell those that follow in their footsteps, with the 2022 vintage matching if not besting the almost perfect conditions of the 2021 growing and harvest season. 

The trend of below average rainfall continued through the winter and spring leading into the 2021 vintage. Fortunately the rainfall we did receive was perfectly timed to coincide with budburst and flowering. The weather was also unusually mild though fruit set, with very little wind. This resulted in a good potential crop and long elongated bunches of grapes. Canopy growth was strong and some slight skirting of the vines was required in the more vigorous growth blocks to open up the canopy and allow good natural airflow. 

The weather in the lead up to the summer and fruit set, saw below average rainfall though all of the Barossa Valley. This resulted in lower than expected crops and smaller bunch/berry sizing than normal. The weather in November was very hot and windy during fruit set and this caused the fruit to ‘shatter’, basically not form fully developed berries that die and fall out of the bunch. The outcome of this was that we experienced final yields 60% lower than a normal vintage from the Greenock Creek Estate vineyards. However there were some positives to come when the fruit began to be harvested.