Jim Barry Wines History
Certain names resonate strongly within the halls of Australian wine history. Jim Barry Wines is one of those names. It was Jim Barry’s drive and community spirit that helped shape South Australia’s Clare Valley as a benchmark in the world of Riesling and cemented its place as one of Australia’s premier wine regions.
Jim Barry Wines has a strong lineage. Jim himself was the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley, graduating as the 17th student to gain a Degree in Oenology at the famous Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1947. Working for 22 years as winemaker at the Clarevale Co-operative, Jim Barry became a pioneer of Australian table wine and helped Taylors Wines establish in 1969.
Wife, Nancy, proved a driving force in the formation of Jim Barry Wines and sons, Peter, Mark & John were involved in the company’s rise. Peter Barry became managing director in 1985. Today Peter’s sons Tom and Sam both work for Jim Barry Wines as winemaker and commercial manager, while daughter Olivia is studying at university with an interest in joining the company. Current custodian’s, Peter & Sue Barry, are deeply proud that Jim Barry Wines is still family owned, with three generations of Roseworthy graduates.
The Barry family name is synonymous with the Clare wine region and their deep ties to the local community continues to this day. Jim Barry sadly passed away in 2004 and was recently honoured with a “Legends Hall of Fame” award at the 2014 Clare Valley Gourmet Weekend.
South Australia Wine Guide - Jim Barry Wines | Winery | Vineyard, Clare Valley - WBTL
South Australia Wine Guide
From a large number of some of Clare’s best sites Peter and Mark Barry continue to build on what their father made famous over four decades, but whether the wines will now show more individuality or refinement remains to be seen. Reds are the mainstay: deep, impressively rich and concentrated if relatively unsubtle are Shiraz McRae Wood and Cabernet Sauvignon First Eleven. A premium Cabernet Benbournie is also made. However, it is for The Armagh that Jim Barry is best known. Considered one of the region’s super-reds, it is an uncompromisingly big, thick, extracted and oaky Shiraz with a long track record dating back to 1985. It is made from very old, unirrigated vines and nearly always achieves the balance that some mega-Shirazes lack but must be kept for a minimum of a decade. Riesling is sourced from the Florita vineyard (in Watervale), first made famous by Leo Buring.
Lodge Hill is toasty, limy and flavoursome with moderate structure but ‘The Florita’ has much greater expression, density and structure and is now recognized as one of the region’s leading examples. Watervale Riesling (only available in Australia) shows good typicity and represents good value for money. Production is a substantial 60,000 cases, though much of that is accounted for by more ordinary reds and whites.
South Australia Wine Guide
Australia's First Families of Wine- Jim Barry Wines
Australia's First Families of Wine are all about that-family. Twelve families of wine with some of Australia's finest vineyards, with over 1200 years of collective winemaking experience.
We attended a wine tasting with 11 of the 12 families recently in Toronto with a speed dating style tasting, whereby the media and VIP tasters moved from table to table meeting and tasting the wines.
We were delighted to meet the colourful Peter Barry, son and current winemaker of Jim Barry wines from Clare
Valley, Australia. We were bowled over by the Armagh Shiraz 2006, with as little as 10 cases available throughout the world.
The Vincast Episode 039 - Tom Barry From Jim Barry Wines & Clos Clare
Someone like Tom Barry is rare indeed, as he is probably one of only a few third-generation qualified winemakers in Australia. His grandfather Jim Brazill Barry was an early winemaking graduate of Roseworthy college in 1944, the first agricultural college in Australia, and the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley. Tom’s father Peter James also studied at Roseworthy, and Tom himself recently completed the course at the Waite campus of the University of Adelaide which Roseworthy merged with some years ago. Being based in the Clare Valley, one of the most important varieties for Jim Barry Wines and Clos Clare (which he and brother Sam took over a few years ago) is undoubtedly riesling. He joined me on this episode of The Vincast to talk about his background, the Clare Valley, and how important riesling is.
Jim Barry Wines - Full Length Video (Australia's First Families of Wine - AFFW)
Australias First Families of Wine is an exciting initiative created by 12 family owned Australian wineries. Together we represent 16 Australian regions across four states and between us our families have more than 1200 years of winemaking experience.
Jim Barry Wines' Celebrates 30 Years of The Florita Vineyard
30 years ago today on June 20 1986, Brothers Mark, Peter and John Barry purchased Australia’s
most famous Riesling vineyard, The Florita Vineyard located at Watervale in the Clare Valley.
They successfully purchased the 80 acre property, which was planted to Riesling by Leo Buring in
1962. Peter, Jim and John celebrated their purchase with a bottle of Riesling as they dreamt of the
future, thinking about the wines they would make and the people that would enjoy them.
Thirty years on, Peter and his sons Tom and Sam are celebrating 30 Years of The Florita Vineyard, a
milestone in the history of Jim Barry Wines and Australian Riesling.
Jim Barry Wines Vintage Report 2016
Join third generation family winemaker Tom Barry and Graeme Macca McDonough as they discuss the 2016 vintage at Jim Barry Wines.
Jim Barry Wines - Hand Picking Riesling at Lodge Hill
Peter and Tom Barry talk about hand picking Riesling at the Lodge Hill vineyard. This is the first Riesling pick for Jim Barry's 2016 Vintage.
2020 Halliday Wine Companion Winery of the Year
This award represents all of our family’s hard work and our commitment to this special place we call home - the Clare Valley.
2020 Halliday Wine Companion 'Winery of the Year'
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have been named the ‘2020 Halliday Wine Companion Winery of the Year’!
This award represents all of our family’s hard work and our commitment to this special place we call home - the Clare Valley.
The Halliday Cellar Door - S02E04 - d'Arenberg & Jim Barry
In this brand new season of The Halliday Cellar Door, our host Sally Stanton visits two more of the families who make up Australia's First Families of Wine. Taking out trip out to the Southern Australian wine regions of McLaren Vale & Clare Valley, Sally visits the unique d'Arenberg, chatting with Chester and d'Arry. Later, a short trek over to Jim Barry Wines, where Sally catches up with the next generation Tom & Sam Barry. A beautiful episode, enjoy!
To find out more about d'Arenberg & Jim Barry visit the links below:
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Host Sally Stanton (Sydney Weekender, Saturday Morning Disney) travels Australia in search of some of the country's most historic and well loved wineries guided by legendary wine expert James Halliday and his best selling wine rating publication the Halliday Wine Companion.
In series two, Sally visits all twelve of the Australia's First Families of Wine, with legendary favourites Yalumba, De Bortoli, Brown Brothers, Tyrrell's and a whole lot more. Sally visits some well-loved wine regions like the Yarra Valley, Barossa and Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, Hunter Valley and Margaret River amongst others.
For more in the series, check out our series two playlist here -
For more information about Australia's First Families of Wine visit -
And to catch up on James Halliday's Wine Companion ratings visit -
#C31Melbourne
#HallidayCellarDoor
Jim Barry Watervale Riesling
Tom and Sam Barry talking about the Jim Barry Watervale Riesling.
Coonawarra - Wine Regions of Australia
Handpicked winemaker Peter Dillon introduces Coonawarra - Coonawarra vignerons claim they occupy the best Cabernet Sauvignon terroir in the world, an assertion undisputed by the legions of fans of their intensely flavoured yet fresh and finely structured wines.
The Antithesis - Celebrating 30 Years of 'The Armagh' Shiraz
Jim Barry Wines celebrate 30 Years of their iconic 'The Armagh' Shiraz.
The Armagh Shiraz has achieved extraordinary success and is regarded as one of Australia’s highest quality wines.
The vineyard was named after the adjoining hamlet of Armagh, established by Irish settlers in 1849 and named after the lush rolling hills of their homeland. Jim Barry planted the 3.3 hectare vineyard in 1968 with Shiraz grapes.
The vineyard is planted on its own roots on grey sandy abrasive topsoil over clay subsoil and receives an average rainfall of 600 millimetres per year.
Such is The Armagh vineyards suitability that minimal intervention is needed to maintain yields below 4 tonnes per hectare, which produce rich and concentrated fruit of the rare quality required to produce wines with ageing potential.
'The Armagh' 2012 is now available online: and at Jim Barry Wines' Cellar Door located in the Clare Valley, SA.
Jim Barry Coonawarra Vineyard
On the southern boundary of Coonawarra is the old Penola cricket ground, which first saw a ball bowled in anger and the flashing cover drives of local champions in 1950.
Jim Barry always had an affection for Coonawarra and the region’s fabulous Cabernet Sauvignon fruit, so when the property went on the market, the opportunity to transform it into a vineyard was too good to miss. To preserve a little piece of Coonawarra cricketing history, the original pavilion was retained and the vines were planted around the cricket pitch.
Over thousands of years erosion and air-borne dust have laid down the famous Coonawarra ‘terra rossa’ soil. The limestone that underlies the area is porous and has an excellent water-holding capacity, providing a very good source of supplementary water during dry periods. Coonawarra lies well south of latitude 37° and it has a cooler climate than many of the other Australian grape-growing regions. This cooler climate results in a much longer ripening season; which in turn produces excellent fruit flavours and unique tannin structure.
Jim Barry Wines - Trailer Video (Australia's First Families of Wine - AFFW)
Australias First Families of Wine is an exciting initiative created by 12 family owned Australian wineries. Together we represent 16 Australian regions across four states and between us our families have more than 1200 years of winemaking experience.
Jim Barry Florita Vineyard
The Florita vineyard at Watervale is one of the area’s oldest. This is the vineyard where legendary winemaker, John Vickery, sourced the grapes for his great Leo Buring Rieslings of the 1960s and 1970s.
At a time when the South Australian Government had initiated a vine pull program in the mid-1980s to counter an oversupply of grapes and the industry was in a state of turmoil, Mark, Peter and John Barry went against conventional wisdom and purchased the Florita vineyard in 1986.
Despite fruit being in oversupply and Riesling being overshadowed by a huge surge in popularity by Chardonnay, they knew that Florita was one of the best vineyards in the country and was crucial in their plans to produce premium Rieslings.
The unique soil composition is primarily loamy clay over limestone. Traditionally, vines from Florita are hand-pruned to a level of 40 buds per vine to maintain the intensity of flavour. The grapes are harvested in the cool of the night at their optimum ripeness to preserve the delicate Riesling flavours and to retain natural acidity.
Jim Barry Wines - Vintage 2018 Snaphot
Take a ride with Peter Barry in his truck while he delivers some Armagh grapes to the winery! Experience the panoramic views with this 360 degrees snapshot of Vintage 2018 so far.
Wine Week 221: Australia's best Cabernet?
When people start talking about Australia's best you'll always get a variety of responses. When it comes to Cabernet Sauvignon it's no different. But any discussion of the best Cab from down under will certainly include Penfolds' Bin 707. This week we check out the recently released 2008 vintage to see how it stacks up. We also look at a much more affordable cabernet from Bowen Estate in the Coonawarra and a young Chardonnay from Yarra Valley boutique producer, Yeringberg.
The Halliday Cellar Door - Tom Barry Interview (Jim Barry)
During episode four of The Halliday Cellar Door, our host Sally caught up with next gen winemaker Tom Barry of Jim Barry Wines, for a chat about the history of their winery, and they take an early taste of a 2018 vintage Shiraz while they're at it.
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Host Sally Stanton (Sydney Weekender, Saturday Morning Disney) travels Australia in search of some of the country's most historic and well loved wineries guided by legendary wine expert James Halliday and his best selling wine rating publication the Halliday Wine Companion.
In series two, Sally visits all twelve of the Australia's First Families of Wine, with legendary favourites Yalumba, De Bortoli, Brown Brothers, Tyrrell's and a whole lot more. Sally visits some well-loved wine regions like the Yarra Valley, Barossa and Clare Valley, McLaren Vale, Hunter Valley and Margaret River amongst others.
For more in the series, check out our series two playlist here -
For more information about Australia's First Families of Wine visit -
And to catch up on James Halliday's Wine Companion ratings visit -
#C31Melbourne
#HallidayCellarDoor