2020 Vintage

Pirathon Bronze Label Shiraz

Pirathon Bronze Label is a smooth and refined Barossa Valley Shiraz. Fresh and vibrant with varietal plum flavours and subtle complexity.

Pirathon Blue Label Shiraz

Pirathon Blue is medium bodied with notes of blueberry, floral, spice and juicy red fruits. Perfectly balanced with soft tannins and subtle oak complexity. A delightful Barossa Shiraz.

Pirathon Gold Label Shiraz

The Pirathon Gold Label Shiraz is barrel selected from our finest parcel of fruit. Showcasing intense dark fruit flavours and enticing aromas, it is rich on the palate and built for long term …

Pirathon Silver Label Shiraz

Pirathon Silver Label is the classic and award winning Pirathon Shiraz. Full bodied displaying rich dark fruits with complex oak integration. Firm tannins add structure to this powerful, harmonious …

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 …

GCV Celtic Farm Shiraz Cabernet

Elegant and restrained, this medium-bodied wine offers fragrant florals and blue fruits with underlying savoury notes. The palate presents satsuma plum and red currant flavours, complemented by cloves …

GCV McAskill Cabernet Malbec

The quintessential Clare blend of Cabernet and Malbec, showcasing complex aromatics, an even and complete palate, with a ripe firm tannin profile that softens with air.

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.

GCV McAskill Shiraz

Powerful and elegant Clare Valley Shiraz, showcasing rich dark fruits with complex spice and savoury notes.

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 White Hut Shiraz

Benchmark Clare Valley Shiraz, medium to full body with blueberry, raspberry, and subtle spice notes.

Vintage Notes

Growing Season

The 2020 growing season was a challenging one viticulturally. The 2019 calendar year was the driest on record for the Nuriootpa weather station with just 291 mm of rain falling. Winter rainfall was close to average, but Spring and early Summer were very dry. Hot weather in November including 42C on Nov 20 impacted flowering for the second year in around. December continued the hot weather with two heat waves impacting vine growth and berry development. Apart from the odd hot day in January temperatures moderated. Maximum temperatures during the harvest months of February and March were 35 C with a big rain event of February 1 providing over 20 mm of welcome rain. Yields as expected with the variable weather conditions were very low but cooler harvest temperatures at least slowed down ripening so there was no rush to harvest quickly.

Vineyard

The grapes were harvested from the low-yielding vineyards of traditional family growers across the Barossa Valley. Each vineyard adds its own exclusive dimension to Pirathon Shiraz and combined they produce the ultimate blend.

Winemaking

Each vineyard was harvested at optimal maturity across a 6 week period between mid February and late March. Following harvest, each individual lot of grapes was crushed into a separate open top fermenter. During fermentation, hand pump-overs gently extracted colour and flavour from the grapes. After 7-10 days on skins the fermented grapes were pressed with a traditional press. The wines were then filled to new and seasoned American, French, Russian and Hungarian oak hogsheads for maturation for eighteen months before each lot of wine was racked from the barrel and carefully blended. The wine was bottled without fining, ensuring the true expression of the vineyards in the bottle.