2022 Jim Barry Spring Farm Block 74 Cabernet Sauvignon, Clare Valley

The 2022 Spring Farm Block 74 Cabernet leads with a bouquet that can only be described as spicy, sophisticated and supple. The wine is from the Spring Farm vineyard, and this block 74 is at 485 meters in elevation, planted to a westerly aspect that catches the afternoon sun. For all the intensity of the aromas, the palate is finer and more detailed than expected—it moves toward "delicate" with unnerving grace, and like a fleet-footed assassin, it sails across the palate with almost weightless impact. This is leafy and fine in the vein of great Clare Valley Cabernet, and it has the added benefit of seamless oak framing. It's a great wine. Drink 2025 to 2042.

97+ points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, September 2025

This is the goods. Svelte, succulent, blue fruited and dosed with regional gum leaf and mint lift, dashed with black pepper, some turned earth and undergrowth characters, licorice and salt bush in tow. Appealing inward concentration controlled with ripples of lacy, graphite-mineral tannin to a very persistent and satisfying, fresh finish. The levity here is impressive. Drink 2025 to 2045.

96 points Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2025

Great colour, youthful, deep and dark. Complex aromas of blackberry, dark cherry, bramble, cedar, lead pencil and a whiff of menthol. Dense, dark and chewy dark fruits, along with uber-serious, mouth-coating tannins and pingy acidity. Built for the long haul and demands protein. Drink 2026 to 2041.

95 points Aaron Brasher for The Real Review, January 2026

Fragrant aromas of wild blackberries, boysenberries, sweet spices, violets and lilacs. The midweight palate has firmly framed tannins with a plush mouthfeel, showing licorice root, damson plums and ferric earth. A lovely, leafy, herbal undertone to this high-toned cabernet. Drink or hold.

95 points James Suckling, April 2025

The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon Spring Farm Block 74 is a belter. It’s perfectly shaped with a density of fruit sitting pretty. This is unmoved and built for the long haul. It opens with cassis, blackberry and subtle sage tones while serious yet balanced oak provides strong support. This is a real claret style, firm and compact as a young wine, with superb tannin management and a powerful core of fruit delivering a lengthy finish. This is one for the cellar. Drink 2035 to 2055.

94 points Angus Hughson for Vinous, August 2025

Jim Barry first planted vines on the Spring Farm property in 1977, drawn by the altitude and cool growing conditions of this elevated Clare Valley site. The property has been developed steadily by the family ever since, with its best individual blocks now bottled separately under the Spring Farm label. Recent additions to the range, the wines have already attracted serious attention.

Block 74 sits on a gentle west-facing slope at an elevation of 485 metres. The altitude matters as it extends the growing season, slowing ripening and building fruit intensity, fine graphite texture and natural energy that have become the block's signature. Fruit is cool-vinified in open stainless steel fermenters before maturation in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barriques for around sixteen months, with new oak kept deliberately restrained at ten to twenty percent.

The 2022 is a Cabernet of real distinction. Fragrant and layered on the nose, with dark cherry, blackcurrant and boysenberry, threaded through with violets, cedar and the regional lift of gum leaf and mint. The palate is finely structured and precise, with dark fruits building through lacy, graphite-edged tannins to a long, composed finish.

There's genuine weight here, but also a lightness of touch that sets it apart from more extracted styles. Multiple reviewers have reached for the word “elegant”, and it fits.

Like premium Bordeaux, this is built firmly for the cellar. Set aside with confidence until 2035 and beyond to let the wine fully reveal its potential.

Decant for air exposure and enjoy with the best rib roast you can get your hands on.