Jim Barry
About Jim Barry
The name of late Jim Barry echoes through the halls of Australian wine-making fame – right up there with Henschke, Penfolds and Torbreck.
As the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley, Jim Barry’s lifetime of work has shaped South Australia’s Clare Valley into a world benchmark for Riesling and Shiraz. Over the last 60 years, the Barry family has established 17 vineyard sites across the Clare Valley (plus two more in Coonawarra), each with differences in aspect and soil, creating unique Australian wines with a regional focus genuine sense of place. Over this time, they have established themselves as one of Australia’s “first families” of wine.
Today, Jim Barry Wines remains firmly in the hands of the Barry family. Championed by the third generation, Tom, Sam and Olivia Barry, and under the guidance of their father, Peter, they continue the excellent work started by their founding grandfather, which culminated in them winning the James Halliday “Companion Winery of the Year” in 2020.
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Wine Advocate (97+)
Deep garnet with a touch of purple, the 2006 Shiraz The Armagh has an earthy, meaty, gamey nose with suggestions of yeast extract, beef drippings and Bovril over a core of dried mulberries, plum preserves and mincemeat pie filling. The rich, full-bodied palate has TONS of fruit with a firm, fine structure and very long finish.HK$8,560.00 -
(6x75cl) 2008Vinous (94)
Inky ruby. Heady aromas of ripe blackberry, blueberry and candied licorice are complicated by sexy notes of vanilla, violet and Indian spices. Lush, deeply flavored and broad, offering intense dark berry and cherry compote flavors and an exotic floral pastille nuance. Finishes sweet and very long, with resonating spiciness, a hint of fruitcake and velvety tannins.HK$11,200.00 -
Wine Advocate (98+)
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2012 Shiraz The Armagh offers a gorgeous perfume of baking spices, violets, Sichuan pepper and fragrant earth. More earthy and savory in the mouth than on the nose, the palate is superbly structured and taut—built for the long-haul—with a long, complex finish. Still very youthfully, forget this wine for 3-5 more years and consider drinking it over the next 20+.HK$7,350.00 -
Vinous (96)
Inky ruby. A hugely perfumed, expansive bouquet evokes ripe black and blue fruits, candied violet, incense and mocha, and an exotic Indian spice flourish builds slowly with air. Appealingly sweet and palate-coating, offering densely packed cassis, blueberry and cherry liqueur flavors complemented by suave vanilla and five-spice powder accents. For all its mass, this wine is almost shockingly lithe thanks to a core of juicy acidity. It finishes extremely long and smooth, with rounded tannins and a lingering dark fruit preserve note.HK$9,415.00 -
(6x75cl) 2014Wine Advocate (94)
The 2014 The Armagh Shiraz boasts intense aromas of vanilla, cedar and boysenberries. It's a full-bodied, creamy-ripe wine, big and rich, yet it's held together by bright acids, with 20 years of potential ageability. The Armagh vineyard Shiraz isn't that old by South Australian standards, having been planted in 1968, but it consistently yields one of Clare's top Shiraz bottlings.HK$10,895.00 -
James Suckling (99)
Wow. This is a bold, brassy shiraz that carries a wealth of very intense aromas of ripe blackberries, dark plums, licorice and sweetly spiced earth. Still so very youthful and primary. The palate is so powerful, so mouth-filling and so, so juicy. This manages to deliver such intensity and composure. Supple, long and deep-set tannins and heroically expressive fruit. Really impressive now, but this will deliver much more over the next two decades. One of the finest releases to date.HK$4,400.00 -
James Suckling (99)
Wow. This is a bold, brassy shiraz that carries a wealth of very intense aromas of ripe blackberries, dark plums, licorice and sweetly spiced earth. Still so very youthful and primary. The palate is so powerful, so mouth-filling and so, so juicy. This manages to deliver such intensity and composure. Supple, long and deep-set tannins and heroically expressive fruit. Really impressive now, but this will deliver much more over the next two decades. One of the finest releases to date.HK$10,205.00 -
Decanter (96)
Such incredible perfume and florality from this standout Shiraz, so expressive and captivating, filled with roses and violets alongside cherries and plum fruit, milk chocolate and some sage notes. Medium-bodied on the palate but it’s the texture and overall presence of the wine in the mouth that gives this star quality. Tannins are fine and seductive cashmere-like, edged with fruit intensity and spicy sides. This has a good energy to it, mouthwatering and pulsing with life with a long finish and lift at the end. Precision and power - built to last.HK$9,175.00 -
Decanter (100)
A meaty, savoury, spiced nose, something so welcoming about it, warm and friendly with a touch of perfume, dark chocolate, cinnamon and pink peppercorn to the blackcurrant, damsons and plums. Rich, ample and generous, yet delivered with such supple and velvety-soft tannins. This has an elegance to it, a cool sophistication in terms of the profile - neat and tidy, quite linear right now, brimming with energy, not yet fully expansive or loose, but quietly controlled and calm. It's confident though with invigorating acidity and I love the focus, detail and the purity of fruit. Sweet red fruits - strawberries, raspberries and red cherries with a slight balsamic, pomegranate edge that is so delicious. Juicy, crunchy, succulent and ripe but with an effortless edge to it. Supremely drinkable and likeable - what a gorgeous wine! A quality vintage and excellent winemaking skill on show. Ageing 18 months in French oak.HK$7,325.00 -
(1x75cl) 2018Decanter (100)
A meaty, savoury, spiced nose, something so welcoming about it, warm and friendly with a touch of perfume, dark chocolate, cinnamon and pink peppercorn to the blackcurrant, damsons and plums. Rich, ample and generous, yet delivered with such supple and velvety-soft tannins. This has an elegance to it, a cool sophistication in terms of the profile - neat and tidy, quite linear right now, brimming with energy, not yet fully expansive or loose, but quietly controlled and calm. It's confident though with invigorating acidity and I love the focus, detail and the purity of fruit. Sweet red fruits - strawberries, raspberries and red cherries with a slight balsamic, pomegranate edge that is so delicious. Juicy, crunchy, succulent and ripe but with an effortless edge to it. Supremely drinkable and likeable - what a gorgeous wine! A quality vintage and excellent winemaking skill on show. Ageing 18 months in French oak.HK$2,265.00 -
Decanter (100)
A meaty, savoury, spiced nose, something so welcoming about it, warm and friendly with a touch of perfume, dark chocolate, cinnamon and pink peppercorn to the blackcurrant, damsons and plums. Rich, ample and generous, yet delivered with such supple and velvety-soft tannins. This has an elegance to it, a cool sophistication in terms of the profile - neat and tidy, quite linear right now, brimming with energy, not yet fully expansive or loose, but quietly controlled and calm. It's confident though with invigorating acidity and I love the focus, detail and the purity of fruit. Sweet red fruits - strawberries, raspberries and red cherries with a slight balsamic, pomegranate edge that is so delicious. Juicy, crunchy, succulent and ripe but with an effortless edge to it. Supremely drinkable and likeable - what a gorgeous wine! A quality vintage and excellent winemaking skill on show. Ageing 18 months in French oak.HK$9,175.00 -
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)
Powerful, with smoked earth, juicy damson fruit, bitter black chocolate, pomegranate, luscious and enticing, with fragrant spice of anis and fennel. This was a warm vintage with low yield of around 15hl/h, but the tannins were clearly extremely well handled, giving a gentle insistence to this wine that refuses to go away, and yet never overpowers. Aged entirely French oak (as it had been from the 2017 vintage) with vines that at this point were more than 50 years old. Tom Barry winemaker, bottled unfiltered and unfined.HK$10,080.00 -
Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (97)
Always a pleasure to get to know a new vintage of The Armagh, and this one kicks off with fragrant aromatics that really put emphasis on the violet and iris character of Shiraz, followed up by cassis fruit, liqourice and rosemary, and a kick of black pepper. 3.3ha of vines, winemaker Peter Barry, working with his brother Sam. Sandy-gravel soils. 75% new oak for ageing, mainly 300l with a few 500l barrels, bottled unfined and unfiltered. Decades ahead of it, but the supple tannins make it approachable now.HK$9,175.00 -
Wine Advocate (97)
Tasted at the Armagh Hut with Sam and Tom Barry, the 2017 The Florita Rieslingis tight, taut and saline—it is mineral and tense, almost shale-y in its acid profile. It is powerful and driven and blisteringly good. Really good. It is yet to unfurl and offers notes of preserved lemon and lavender—is there turmeric and lanolin in there too? Boom. This is really good. Drink it now or in decades to come—it’s a sleeper. 2017 was a cooler, wetter year and higher yielding.HK$2,030.00 -
Wine Advocate (97+)
The Barry brothers sent me a second bottle of the 2022 The Florita Riesling, which I am tasting here today, because they felt that it wasn't showing as well as it could the first time when I tasted it in October (it had only been bottled four weeks prior). In truth, I think it was showing just as well then as it is now, and it is a superstar. 2022 seemed to harness the fruit from the vineyard and boost it: more power, more concentration, more acid, more vivid ... just such exceptional wines. I've said this before, but 2022 could easily be the best vintage in the last 20 years, and for those who know, that takes us back to the great, the age-worthy, the revered 2002 vintage. This is a collector's year. Do not waste the opportunity, because the vintage, coupled with the screw-cap closure, will allow the wine to age for a long time.HK$2,025.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2023 The Florita Riesling is layered with elderflower and beeswax, jasmine and even a hint of honeysuckle. It is tremendously floral on the nose. In the mouth, the wine is talc-y and textural, and it spools across the palate. It's a fabulous wine, distinct, with a proven pedigree of graceful aging. Excellent. 12.3% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.HK$995.00 -
Vinous (95)
The 2024 Riesling The Florita is taut and punchy with its embryonic aromas of lime leaf, preserved lemon and lemon thyme. This has impressive density of flavor, with a compact core of intense citrus flavors elevated by lacy grip over a long, sinewy finish. Beautifully composed for the long haul.HK$1,785.00
