Winter Warmer Special - We highlight the Jim Barry Winery from Clare Valley with some unbeatable pricing that even Dan Murphy might have trouble meeting! - Scott Conley June 2017

During my visit to the Clare Valley in December 2015, which was shortly after the bush-fires came very close to torching both Clare & Barossa Valley wine regions. I headed up to Clare in search of 3 things - Jim Barry Wines, The Riesling Trail, the infamous AP Birks Wendouree and their winemaker Tony Brady (which will remain a mystery until my next visit). The Clare quickly went up in my books as a favourite region to visit, super friendly locals that took some time to share with us their knowledge of the region and their story.

Outside of these amazing Langtons Classification Exceptional wines I was blown away by the consistency of vino throughout the region.  Here are some of the wineries that caught my attention -  up and coming Shut the Gate Winery & Mad Bastard Winery, run by former Jim Barry Winemaker Mark Barry who is having fun and clearly named his new venture Mad Bastard after himself!! We had a great chat and he had me in stitches for a good hour.

Arriving mid-afternoon at Jim Barry Wines, I was met by Jim's grandson, current winemaker and all round top guy - Sam Barry who showed us around the winery and drove us to where their Armagh vineyard is where he surprised us with the newly bottled 2012 Armagh and from what he said we were the first punters in the trade to the 2012 vintage prior to their Member release... Amazing!

Photo (Left) Conley's Fine Wines Founder Scott Conley & Jim Barry's Grandson and current Winemaker Sam Barry (Right) - Seen here enjoying the award wining 2012 Jim Barry Armagh prior to trade or member release.  Congratulations to the team who shortly afterwards being named the 2014 Winery of the Year by leading UK wine writer Matthew Jukes in his 100 Best Australian Wines report 2016/2017, which also featured The Barry Bros Shiraz Cabernet in its prestigious top 100 list.

About the Jim Barry Winery

Located in the cool uplands of the North Mount Lofty ranges around 50 km north of Adelaide, the vineyards of Jim Barry were built in Clare in 1959. This is a family run winery focused on creating quality wines through a creative way to deal with viticulture and wine-production technology. Jim Barry Wines' 'The Armagh' Shiraz has been raised to "Excellent" in the Langton's Classification of Australian Wine VI. The Armagh was one of just four wines to be lifted to the most noteworthy classification.Peter Barry, Managing Director of Jim Barry Wines said he was "excited to have 'The Armagh' perceived along these lines. "In 1985, my family and I chose to make a benchmark Australian Shiraz from the first vineyard that my guardians, Jim and Nancy planted. We needed to bond a spot for the Clare Valley as a world class wine creating area.

Winery Details

Jim Barry Wines
33 Craig Hill Road, CLARE
SA, 5453, Australia
Phone: 61 (0) 8 88422261
Website: http://jimbarry.com/

1990 Jim Barry Tasting Notes

1994  About the Wine - On Special while stock lasts and roughly $50 cheaper than Dan Murphy's

Profound garnet-black in color, it shows a beautiful choco-mint and mincemeat nose with indications of smoky bacon, espresso, tobacco and cumin seed. The rich, full-bodied tissue is very much upheld by exceptionally fresh corrosive and a medium-high state of extremely velvety tannins. The completion is long loaning waiting notes of mint, espresso and baking spices.

1995

Intially opens up with a claret colour. The aromas are more in the red fruit spectrum with strawberry and boysenberry at the forefront. The palate is generous and the sweetness from the oak is still showing and somewhat dominating. The palate is tightly wound behind a wall of tannins. After two hours the wine is still in a closed mode and from this bottle it would be recommended to give the wine a good decant prior to serving; however the fruit flavours have come out and is showing an abundance of blueberry and mulberry along with the leathery development that could be expected from a 15 year old wine.

1999

2002

Similar to Wild Duck Creek Winery,  Jim Barry make great quality wines at both ends of the price spectrum.  -  one of our personal favourites is the Jim Barry Watervale Riesling is amazing value at $15-$20