The land now occupied by the Woody Nook Wines estate was formerly home to a sawmill and sleeper cutters. In 1978 Jeff and Wynn Gallagher, wishing to make a change from their floor-covering business in Perth, purchased the property with a vineyard in mind and began the arduous task of clearing and preparing the land. The first cuttings were planted in 1982 and the first crush took place in 1987, the first winery building having been built the year before. The Gallaghers constructed this and their new home from timber and rammed mud brick, both materials being available on the property. There are still about sixty acres of jarrah and marri forest forming a magnificent backdrop to the winery and restaurant. At the end of 1999 when Jeff and Wynn decided to retire to Busselton and put Woody Nook on the market, Peter and Jane Bailey became the proud new owners in May 2000. As part of the deal, Neil Gallagher stayed on as Winemaker/Viticulturist and was offered a shareholding in the business. This was fairly crucial for the Baileys as they were then resident in the USA, although had been in WA previously for almost 20 years, with a home, family and many friends in Perth. They were deeply involved with the day to day running of the winery - thanks to modern technology - and were regular visitors (for extended periods in Jane’s case). In September 2007, after almost 15 years overseas, the Baileys returned to WA permanently. Woody Nook currently has just 17 acres of mature vines, but 20 acres of ‘rootlings’ were planted in November 2007 on land immediately adjacent to the existing vineyard, part of 50 acres purchased in 2006. The original vineyard is non-irrigated and includes cabernet sauvignon, shiraz, merlot, sauvignon blanc, chenin blanc, chardonnay, Semillon and cabernet franc, the grapes from which are totally hand-picked and produce around 5,000 cases of wine a year. The new vineyard has more of most of the same varietals but also three Spanish varietals – Tempranillo, Graciano and Albarino.
Wines from Woody Nook Wines Winery
- Woody Nook Shiraz
2000 Shiraz, Iran Rated 3/5
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