Property profile: Geier vineyard

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The Geier vineyard is one of six Rural Funds Group (ASX: RFF) vineyards currently leased to Treasury Wine Estates (ASX: TWE) and is located near Greenock in the Barossa Valley, approximately 60 km north-east of Adelaide, South Australia.

The Barossa Valley is one of Australia’s most prominent wine regions with some of the world’s oldest continually producing Shiraz and Cabernet vines, many dating back to the early 1840s. It is also renowned for producing premium Shiraz due to its unique combination of climate and soil conditions.

After Geier was acquired in 2000, it was developed from a dryland dairy farm to a vineyard targeting ultra-premium wine grape production, an example of utilising the strategy of converting farms to higher and better use. This development included the installation of a pumping and irrigation system, enabling water requirements to be managed and each vine to be individually drip irrigated. The main variety of grape grown on the Geier vineyard is Shiraz, as well as Cabernet, which are targeted for TWE’s premium wine brands.

The vines are managed with the aim of producing high quality berry-like grapes that are smaller in size, increasing the skin to flesh ratio. This improves the colour and concentrates the flavours which are extracted from the unique soils on the vineyard. Harvest typically occurs from late February and runs through to early April.