Why We Do What We Do! Galafrey Wines Australian Winemakers

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 PLACE
We have a daily battle of not being on a major highway in a major area in a world where people choose vineyards and winery sites base on tourism rather than soil and climate. But 36 years ago my parents could have chosen a wine site anywhere in WA and they choose this site after much research and digging holes with a geologist. This area is a proven viticultural area due to the fact that it grows the most grapes in WA and that the WA Ag dept. spent a lot of money researching the industry in this area. Why? Essentially Mount Barker is the Bordeaux region of Australia; we have the same climatic and soil conditions!

OUR DRY GROWN VINEYARD
When Ian passed away everyone ask who will make your wine and what will you do? We worked out pretty quickly that we could employ a winemaker but they would be unlikely to stay more than 2 years and there was no longevity in promoting them. Personally we find it frustrating that winemakers can be treated like rock stars. The truth of the matter is you need good grapes to make good wine and it is the winemaker's job to maintain that quality in the winery. You cannot make good wine out of bad grapes. It is impossible. In a time when no one can sell their grapes we have received many offers to buy our fruit at a high price. Combine that with the fact we are one of a handful of dry grown vineyards in WA. We realise that the vineyard was our rock star. We changed our marketing to reflect that with each red wine label saying Dry Grown on the label. We are now working at improving our vineyard so this property will become renowned as a dry grown red wine producing property.
[history linda and ian]
OUR HISTORY
We are one of a few second generation family winemakers in WA. We are also the oldest family owned winery in Mount Barker. Many pioneering brands are now owned by other people. My parents were pioneers in not only the Mount Barker wine industry but the WA Wine Industry. This is a massive achievement. We do not supplement our income with other jobs or funds, we are not farmers or doctors turned winemakers, we solely and wholly brought a property, set up a vineyard and create not only a lifestyle for our family but a well-respected brand in the Australian ( and Global) wine industry. Something to be cherished.

MINIMAL APPROACH
Commercial wineries will often stick to a scheduled spray program often spray every two weeks. We will however spray depending on weather conditions and by what the vineyards needs which means in the long run we spray less. Spraying too much builds resistance to disease and pest control, kill good bacteria and soil microbes which are important for soil health. I have seen people plant vineyards in odd places due to that's were there land is or that's a good spot to build a wine business but the soil is poor resulting in more fertilizer and spraying. Remember my parents looked hard for this property so we don't need to add lots of fertilizer because the soil is correct for our grapes and we don't have the spray as much because we can manage our canopies naturally. It is very important to us that we have a healthy property after all it is our greatest asset. Same with the winery. We only do what we need to do to make the wine better. Less in best. We like pick at the right time to ensure the acid and fruit balance within the grape itself before we process it. The more you put in or take out the less it truly reflects where it comes from and what it represents. A minimal approach ensures better quality in our eyes.

COOL CLIMATE STRAIGHT VARIETIES
Our goal is to make the best wine from our Dry Grown Vineyard. We want our vineyard to be known as a great vineyard. We wish to make cool climate straight varieties specialling in Riesling and our Red Wines. We want to be known as a great red wine producer. We are well respected and our personal approach to our business in important to us. Our Stories, Our history , Our Wine. We are proud of everything we have achieved and there are many people who couldn't do what we have done and we are proud of that.

2ND GENERATION WINEMAKER
I am proud of my family and Galafrey Wines. My mother taught me all about business and my father taught me about hard work and passion. My father's principals and passion for Galafrey I respect and continue to follow to this day. Granted if he was alive it would all be different but he is not and I have to do it my way. I don't have any formal training but for as long as I remember I was there by my parents side every step of the way. My winemaking is intuitive and there is nothing wrong with that. And every morning when I wake up and look out the window across the vineyard and the hills I think to myself what a wonderful part of the world we live in.

Enjoy the Wine!
Kim Tyrer