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Coonawarra graziers have access to the finest soils for viticulture. Doug Balnaves was born in the very heart of Coonawarra, quite near the sacred cricket pitch at Penola. An accomplished herdsman and shearer, Balnaves took up the challenge of planting vineyards in 1971. Working under the tutelage of legendary Coonawarra winemaker Bill Redman, Balnaves immersed himself in the culture of the vine, ultimately establishing a grande marque of Coonawarra and securing the inaugural presidency of the Coonawarra Vignerons Association. He remains a lifelong member of the Penola Pipe Band. For those who like their wines structured yet satin, powerful yet prettily.. The old sheep shearer's shanty»
The 1890s brought boom years to the nascent Aussie wine industry, as connoisseurs throughout Europe and the Empire were introduced to the Dionysian delights of new world Claret by Tyrrell, St Huberts and Wirra Wirra. An enterprising family of Scots took heed of the times to plant grapevines on a uniquely auspicious block in Valley Clare, they called it St Andrew and produced forty vintages of the most sensational quality Claret until the 1930s. The Taylor family acquired the fallow farm in 1995 and brought St Andrew's vines back to life. The treasured block endures as home to the flagship range of Taylor wines, one of the most distinguished vineyards in all.. *according to the french»
Greg Melick embarked on the prodigal road to gambling and booze as a mere teenager, after winning the daily double at Werribee and spending the lot on good red wine. He ultimately returned to the straight and narrow, achieving the rank of ADF Major General, Senior Law Counsel, Master Wine Judge and Officer of Australia AO. Melick now grows his own, he remains besotted with les grands vignobles de Bourgogne, the illustrious Pinot Noir of Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune. There are few places in the world, more akin to the 1er Grand Cru style of Pinot Noir, than the temperate pastures along Tasmania's River Derwent. It was here in 2002, amongst the woodland.. Pressing matters in pinot noir»
An ongoing resurrection of some fabulous old vines, a distinguished Blewitt Springs site and a range of the most spectacular McLaren Vale wines. When Kelly and Bondar acquired Rayner Vineyard in 2013, they knew that everything depended on the management of site and soil to achieve the excellence of wine they had in mind. The most fastidious husbanding regimens and a tightly scheduled evolution towards organic viticulture, the propitious Rayner vines have never yielded finer harvests, all translating into a tour de force across the entire Bondar range. Salient quality and penurious pricing make for a compelling mix. Old vines grown to salubrious soils, the.. Model mclaren macerations»

Jim Barry Armagh Shiraz CONFIRM VINTAGE

Shiraz Clare Valley South Australia
Outstanding Langtons Classification. Armagh is amongst the most venerated locations in Ireland. St Patrick built his stone church there on a site where a cathedral still stands. Irish pioneers, settling Valley Clare in 1849, were so inspired by the beauty of the land that they named the rolling hills after their home at County Armagh. Jim Barry planted his 3â…“ hectare property in 1968, with Shiraz clones originally sourced from Israel, it is one of the nation's great vineyards, still managed to the standards and techniques defined by Jim Barry over forty years ago.
Each
$399.99
Dozen
$4799.00
From fruit grown exclusively to one of Australia's most distinguished vineyards, named after the adjoining hamlet of Armagh, yielding less than two tonnes per acre. Armagh Shiraz has achieved extraordinary success and is regarded as one of Australia's great wines. Such is The Armagh site's suitability that minimal intervention is needed to produce rich and concentrated fruit of the rarest qualities. The contour planted, northwest facing vines are planted to grey sands over clay subsoil, is suitably dry farmed. Grapes are all hand picked and vinified in open top fermenters, treated to rack returns and pumpovers, followed by eighteen months in French and American oak and a year or two of bottle age.
Impenetrable, inky crimson colour. Elegant, brooding aromas, highly complex, cranberries and mulberry, boysenberry and mint, underlying rosemary and sage, cinnamon, cedar and black pepper. Firm tannin structure in support of red currant flavours, black cherries and blueberry over a background of truffles and turned earth. The length of flavour and power, while showing restraint and finesse, are what really set Armagh at the zenith of Shiraz.
Jim Barry
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Jim Barry
The Jim Barry vineyards were established in the cool uplands of the North Mount Lofty ranges in 1959

In his 57 years of winemaking, the late Jim Barry saw many changes. Jim Barry graduated from Roseworthy Agricultural College in 1947 and was offered a position at the Clarevale Cooperative, becoming the first qualified winemaker to work in the Clare Valley. In 1959 Jim and his wife Nancy purchased their first property on the northern outskirts of Clare and in 1964 purchased 70 acres of land from Duncan McRae Wood, part of which now forms the famous Armagh vineyard. With a growing family to look after, Jim took on the challenge of establishing his own winery and cellar door, with the first home-made wines being produced in 1974. "When I first came to the Clare Valley, grapes were delivered by horse and cart. Today our business is international but one thing won't change, at the end of the day, the wines are what matters!"

Jim Barry

The Jim Barry philosophy to winemaking is very simple, own the vineyards to develop the best fruit flavours possible and retain these flavours during winemaking. Fruit bottled under the Jim Barry Wines label is sourced from family owned vineyards, ensuring complete and utter control over every stage of production from vine to wine. Jim Barry Wines has four distinctive climatic and geographical sites in the Clare Valley. Watervale towards the southern end of the Valley, Lodge Hill in the eastern ranges, vineyards at the northern entrance to Clare and Armagh to the west. In addition, the company has a 14 hectare Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in the Coonawarra region.

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 to counter an oversupply of grapes, Jim Barry went against conventional wisdom and purchased the Florita vineyard. 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 first time Jim Barry walked on the soils of Lodge Hill in 1977, he knew it was a special site. It now produces two of Jim Barry’s most famous wines – The Lodge Hill Riesling and The Lodge Hill Shiraz. At 480 metres, the Lodge Hill vineyard, situated on the eastern ranges of the township of Clare, is one of the highest points in the Valley. Jim’s original intention was to devote the entire Lodge Hill vineyard to premium Riesling. The soil in the Riesling vineyard, on the other side of the crest, is brown loam over a layer of clay and slate bedrock that is about 900 million years old and has cracked just off the vertical so that water can drain freely through it. It’s a soil that nourishes the vines adequately, but makes them struggle just a bit, making it suited to growing intensely flavoured, finely structured Rieslings.

Jim Barry

However, while he was pottering around with his trusty shovel, digging here and there, he discovered a very different soil profile on the small north-facing slope. Warmer than the rest of the property, Jim decided it was the perfect place to plant Shiraz. So in essence, there are two vineyards within the one. The Shiraz vineyard's soil consists of about 40-50 centimetres of rich, chocolaty loam over rock, consisting of almost vertical sheets. The cracks between the sheets have been filled with soil, providing passage for the vine roots and free drainage – the ideal environment for low-yielding Shiraz vines.

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 clones originally sourced from Israel. 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.

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. Jim Barry today, maintains the traditions of a family run winery committed to producing quality wines through an innovative approach to viticulture and winemaking technology.

Jim Barry