Fruit & Harvesting

The Fruit

The Central Victorian region is well renowned for high quality wines, the climate and soil conditions coupled with some variables that can be managed within the vineyard drive this success. 
River Gum Vineyard has had much success, producing award winning wines from high quality fruit grown on the property. Our varietals include Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with 50 acres undervine.
River Gum Vineyard is located on the banks of the Goulburn River with rich sandy loam soils on ancient river gravel, that drains freely. The vines were planted in 1996, so they are self regulated and set enough fruit that they can ripen evenly. We also assist in managing this process by having a tightly regulated irrigation schedule and specific pruning requirements to manage cropping to 2-3 tonne to the acre. This creates small berries, that are full flavoured and dark in colour, the foundation to a quality wine.

Harvesting

We don't cut costs, we use a selective harvester with destemmer to help improve wine quality by delivering cleaner fruit to wineries. The harvester reduces impurities or MOG (Matter Other Than Grape) significantly. This prevents a herbacious taste transferring from stems, leaves and any vine material to grapes during transportation to the winery.