Clare Valley has become the first place in Australia to successful grow and make a great white wine from the Greek Assyrtiko grape and Jim Barry Wines has become the first producer to do so. This year, Sam Barry (third generation winemaker) was in New Zealand to launch the ninth vintage of Jim Barry Assyrtiko (featured below as a wine of the week) and this wine brings new complexity to the Australian wine scene.

The story began in 2006 when Peter Barry was on holiday with his wife, Sue, in Santorini in 2006. They tasted Assyrtiko - a white Greek grape variety - and it stopped them in their tracks. The desert like growing conditions, saline soils and high winds on this volcanic island were impressive, as were the basket-like trellises in which the Assyrtiko grape have been trained to grow, close to the ground to provide protection from high winds and heat waves. Peter Barry was intrigued and the following year, 2007, he tasted as many Assyrtikos as he could find at the London Wine Fair. 

The rest is history.

He then set a task to get his hands on some Assyrtiko to see how it would do in Australia's Clare Valley, where dry growing conditions struck him as similar to those on Santorini. He met Konstantinos Lazarakis, a Master of Wine, who introduced him to Yiannis Pareskevopoulos from Gaia Wines, a producer of highly regarded Assyrtikos and together they collected 12 dormant Assyrtiko cuttings and established a clone, which was taken back to Australia and placed in quarantine for the mandatory two years. 

The two best cuttings were released in 2010 and 2011 with buds being grafted onto Riesling vines in two vineyards in the Lodge Hill and Watervale vineyards in the Clare Valley and the Barry family's Assyrtiko story began.

The following wine is the ninth vintage and it's a commanding expression of an old grape variety with a new home in the Clare Valley, It is a full bodied, weighty wine with crispness that belies the richness of flavour. It also ages exceptionally well. I have aged 2017 and 2019 bottles of this wine (random, I know) and they are drinking well now, with clearly more ageing potential.

I will be buying more Assyrtiko, both Jim Barry Wines and from Greece.

Here are three exceptional wines of the week.

Wines of the week

2024 Jim Barry Assyrtiko RRP $37.99

This is the ninth vintage of Jim Barry Assyrtiko and it has an excellent balance succulent lemon juice-like acidity, coupled with a lush textural palate – driven by glycerol and weight in the wine rather than residual sugar (of which there is none). Citrus aromas, lemon and lime zest flavours and an impressive mid palate all give this wine a commanding taste. 

2020 Guigal Gigondas RRP $68.99

Guigal is famed for its millions of bottles of high quality Cotes du Rhone each year but there's far more to the story too with excellence from the Gigondas appellation in this wine. A blend of 70% Grenache, 20% Syrah and 10% Mourvedre with average vine age 40 years and traditional winemaking with long maceration followed by two years' ageing in oak foudres – 50% new oak. This wine tastes fleshy, smooth and vibrant, thanks to the judicious blend of warm to hot climate grape varieties. It's full bodied with a softness on the mid palate and a long life ahead, if willpower allows.

2023 Jamet Côtes du Rhône RRP $72.99

Trust Jamet to make a Cotes du Rhone that tastes as deep and deliciously structured with dark fruit as this wine. It's a blend of five vineyards – all from the upper slopes Ampuis in the Northern Rhone - and the powerful tannin structure, full body and bright acidity all frame the dark omega plum-like aromas, savoury spice and juicy blackberry flavour notes. This wine drinks well now but is suited for the long haul - up to and beyond a decade. An investment.