2018 Jim Barry The McRae Wood Shiraz Cellar Release, Clare Valley

Delicious. 2018 puts this wine in such a spectacular place. And it is a good idea to taste this before you buy the Armagh, for they are possessed of the same purity of red fruit at their cores. This 2018 The McRae Wood Shiraz is lighter in frame and not as long as the Armagh, but it offers an excellent, value-for-money, dignified cellaring option. Sensational wine here. (Or you could just drink it, because it's delicious now, too.) Drink to 2038.

95 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2022 (original release)

Deep, concentrated purple colour, with a bold, essency, slightly raw aroma with straightforward, concentrated and chewy tannin palate, which lacks a little elegance but has plenty of muscle. This has the makings of an excellent wine in time, but needs more maturation. Density, chew and power to burn. Drink to 2038.

93 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, March 2022 (original release)

More about this wine

The McRae Wood Shiraz is made from grapes ‘declassified’ from Jim Barry’s iconic The Armagh Shiraz and blended with select premium parcels from the family’s other Clare Valley vineyards.

This Cellar Release of the 2018 vintage has matured in the Jim Barry cellars in Clare Valley.

About Jim Barry Wines

Jim Barry was the first qualified winemaker in the Clare Valley, and the business he founded in 1959 has remained in family hands across three generations since. In 1964 he purchased 70 acres of prime farmland from neighbour Duncan McRae Wood to plant his first Shiraz vineyard. An inspired choice of both variety and location that set the course for everything that followed.

The current custodians of the family business are Peter & Sue Barry, while the third generation of Barry’s, Tom, Sam and Olivia, work as winemaker, commercial manager and brand ambassador respectively.