Interview with Jim and Nancy Barry [transcript] Interviewer: Rob Linn

This is a particularly personal interview which concentrates upon the growth of the Barry winery. Jim Barry was born in Adelaide in 1925. His wife Nancy was born and educated in Clare. Jim studied oenology at Roseworthy Agricultural College and graduated in 1946. He reminisced about teachers and friends from those days. In 1947, Jim Barry joined the Clarevale co-operative winery as assistant winemaker where he stayed for twenty-two years and became the manager in the mid 1950s. He explained that the winemaker's problems, when working for a grower's co-operative, arose from the lack of cash reserves and limited control of business cash for upgrades. Whilst still working for the Clarevale co-operative, Jim bought land north of Clare in 1959. The details of the purchase and the background to the development of the Barry winery will interest historians interested in the wineries of the Clare and extended valleys. Other winemakers, such as Roly Birks, assisted Jim Barry. The growth of the Barry winery was very much a family affair with Nancy doing the labelling, and their six children helping in the vineyards. For Nancy and Jim Barry, there are the Clare, Barossa and Coonawarra winemakers all of whom helped each other. Jim Barry acknowledged the role of wine casks in the transfer from fortified to table wines. For him, the significant changes in table wines arose from the introduction of stainless steel and refrigeration

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