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Situated in the northern end of the Barossa Valley this vineyard is quintessential Barossa Valley red wine country largely in part due to its soils being relatively uniform red-brown earth over limestone and the climate during ripening being warm and dry.

One special feature is its old vine stocks of Grenache and Shiraz, the remnants of the Barossa Valley's forgotten fortified wine industry. These grandfathers produce low crops of small berried grapes capable of intense flavours only achievable when certain key elements are in place. These elements are vine age, soil type and climate, and can rarely be matched in any other wine region throughout the world.

Rain falls predominately in winter with an annual average of 525mm. There is typically little run off with all of the moisture stored in the relatively deep red brown earths of the district. This forms the reservoir for the vines in the subsequent growing season with the traditional vineyards set up to be dry grown never to rely on supplementary irrigation. The old blocks of today were planted to a low density configuration and have the established root capacity throughout the soil profile to survive in the driest of growing seasons. In addition, a level ripeness is achieved that is conducive to the crafting of full bodied red wines that are uniquely Barossan.

"Greenock Red Brown Earth" is the term that best describes the soils from the vineyard. An outstandingly important feature of the geological beds in the area is their very great age which have been through quite a number of cycles of weathering and erosion. Much of the original mineral composition has now gone which probably explains why, for instance, their phosphorus content is low.

The red-brown earth has a high level of clay content which hangs onto stored moisture very effectively, only providing the vines with a limited amount at a time. This phenomenon, together with the soils' low phosphorus status, means that vine vigour and crop load is generally low, an important element in the vine being able to achieve full ripeness.