Where does Riesling Come From?Earlier, Riesling was sometimes claimed to have originated from wild vines of the Rhine region, without much support to back up that claim. More recently, DNA fingerprinting by Ferdinand Regner indicated that one parent of Riesling is Gouais Blanc, known to the Germans as Weißer Heunisch, a variety that, while rare to...

In 1965 the first commercial vines were planted in Mt Barker. Forrest Hill was the first with a trail plot with the Agriculture Department, followed by Plantagenet Wines in 1968. It was then a decade later in 1976 when Goundrey wines planted their vines and was then followed by Galafrey Wines in 1978, established by my parents, Ian and Linda Tyrer....

On the last day of picking I thought to myself "if I never saw another bee again I would be happy!"Before everyone complains about that comment- let me explain.It has been a dry year- so dry. There's is no blossom on trees and the birds and the bees are hungry. When we were handpicking a few rows I went out to pick the bins up, it was like picking ...

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One of the major documents that influenced the start of the Great Southern wine industry, the largest viticulture area in Western AustraliaMy object is a booklet entitled The Climate and Soils of South-Western Australia in Relation to Vine Growing by J.S. Gladstones, reprinted from the Journal of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science Dec...

To help celebrate the Dr Who 50th Anniversary we ran a photo competition. It was simple-"Take a photo of a bottle of Galafrey Wines with your Favourite Dr Who prop or dress up as your favourite Dr drinking a glass of wine....whatever......the photo just needs to be a) Galafrey Wines and b) of Dr Who Flavour!! Get creative and have some fun!!Then po...

High quality vintage forecast amid low yieldsPosted Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:40pm AESTWine producers are hoping a high quality product will make up for low yields in this year's vintage.The nation's peak industry body, Wines Australia, has released its 2013 vintage review report which predicts high quality red and white wine varieties in the Great Southe...

We wanted to explain to you why we are committed to the things we do and why we do them. In a world that is rapidly changing we wanted to share our goals, objectives and ethics with you. It may seem old fashioned and out dated but the principles are relevant and valuable to us.OUR PLACEWe have a daily battle of not being on a major highway in a maj...

Survey shows big jump in winemakers' confidencePosted Thu May 23, 2013 1:10pm AESTMap: WALocal wine producers say optimism in the industry has jumped significantly, with survey results showing confidence in the sector generally has risen more than any other.The National Australia Bank's (NAB) post-farm gate agribusiness survey for the March quarter...

There are very few times we start vintage before the March Long weekend. Only once before in 2007 we started vintage on the 14th Feb. I remember this because I was in Tasmania on my honeymoon when I got the phone call that they were starting vintage without me!This year we started on Wednesday the 20th February picking the Chardonnay and Muller. Th...

How do I pick a wine that has minimal sulphur?I wouldn't worry about it too much unless you have an allergy to sulphur but on what I have said so far I would choose a less commercial, aged red from a cool climate area. Sound familiar!! If I was sensitive to sulphur I would avoid any wines that was bottled recently especially new whites. Give them 3...

My parents, Ian and Linda Tyrer, spent all their savings on a property in Mount barker on which they were going to plant a vineyard.It had a house on this property. Linda's father, a builder, came over to help them set up. Linda, proud of her new purchase showed her father around the house asking him what they could do to fix it up. Her father toss...

Like most family businesses Galafrey Wines started as a love story.Linda met Ian Tyrer in London in the 70s. Both from Australia, they were travelling the world and working in London in the new and emerging computer Industry. But once they had met and fallen in love talk began of settling down, getting married and having a family. Both had a desire...

Summer rains in December caused some concerns for vineyards however our dry grown vineyard thrived with the moisture. The vine growth has been amazing compared with previous dry years. Many other vineyards struggled to remain disease free. While it caused extra work for us, we were able to maintain canopy management and keep the vineyard disease fr...

Galafrey Wines remains a family-owned business and all wines are grown, nurtured and bottled on the estate in Mount Barker WA. Established by Ian Tyrer (1946-2003). Galafrey Wines is survived by mother and daughter team, Linda and Kim Tyrer. Linda and Kim maintain a hands-on role to ensure that the Galafrey philosophy is upheld. When Ian Tyrer firs...

Because of the very dry year Vintage started early, thankfully we got 30mm in December otherwise we'd be carting water to the winery as our water tanks would have been empty. It's been such a weird year with all the disasters in the Eastern States- floods and bush fires, all WA vineyard stocks of sulphur, copper and fungicides were shipped over eas...

Our winemaking philosophy is simplyYOU NEED GOOD GRAPES TO MAKE GOOD WINE!It makes sense. Imagine you got awful, mouldy grapes in at the winery. It will make dirty, mouldy tasting wines. If you have good clean fruit come in at the winery you have good clean wine. Of course you also need to add picking the grapes at the right time so that the acidit...

One of the great joys in life is to sit down at the dinner table with great food and wine and listen to stories. I have listened to countless stories.... Stories like.....how when my parent first brought this property with all their savings in 1977. Mum's dad, a builder came over to have and look and help. Mum showed him around the house and asked ...

Once again I find myself gazing out on a dampen vineyard. Leaves clinging on for dear life, and the latest vintage resting in tank and barrel.This year's vintage again was subjected to the weather gods, and an earlier onset of ripening brought us more in line with the vintage of 2008. Like last year we began with the Semillon from the warmer climes...

My Name is Kim Tyrer. I was born 30 odd years ago about the same time my parents brought a property in Mt Barker WA and planted a vineyard. I grew up in the wine industry. I started in a Mary Poppins style pram, I was on one side and vine cuttings on the other, as my mum, Linda Tyrer, paced up and down the rows planting their future. As I got older...