SPECIAL EDITION PART 2 – THE NEW TORBRECK RELEASES
Left to Right – Ian Hongell, MJ, Andrew Tierney, Marcus Parry
It is such a privilege to be given the opportunity to taste the Escarpment wines and the Torbreck portfolio (these wineries are under the same ownership) each year ahead of their release, and these wines never disappoint. Sitting at both the top of the NZ and Aussie trees, the wines below are essential in any serious cellar. I will fill in stockist details and RRPs when they hit the market. In the meantime, here are my snap thoughts on these wines. Thanks to Marcus Parry from UK importers Fells for setting everything up!
Torbreck, Barossa Valley, South Australia
Ian Hongell is an incredible winemaker with a razor-sharp instinct for making wines that celebrate his beloved vineyards while building on the already massive Torbreck reputation. It was also great to catch up with Andrew Tierney, Torbreck’s sales, export and marketing director, who always brings another amazing dimension to events. He is also a brilliant taster, so the insight into these wines, alongside Honky’s winemaking and viticultural knowledge, was second to none.
WHITE
2025 Torbreck, Cuvée Juveniles Blanc, Barossa Valley, SA 13.5%
Juicy, grainy, and teasing, this 40% Marsanne, 32% Roussanne, 10% Clairette, 17% Grenache Blanc, and 1% V is drawn from sandy, mainly hillside vineyards, and it sees a variety of old barrels, new oak, and steel for a brisk 4 months, and then it is bottled. This is a fabulous wine, more defined and silkier, with more fruit volume than any Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc I have ever tasted. It is beautiful. 17.5/20
2025 Torbreck, The Steading Blanc, Barossa Valley, SA 13.5%
This time, the top white wine at Torbreck is sourced from vineyards with clay in the mix. 53% Roussanne, 45% Marsanne, and 2% Viognier are carefully blended to create a fabulous, sensationally clean, and stunningly resonant wine. Sitting at only 12.5% alcohol, The Steading Blanc is a glorious ‘white Rhône blend’, and the only downside is that only 350 cases of 12 bottles were made! I cannot remember tasting a more layered and yet so brightly fruited and perfumed white blend! Vivacious, refreshing and with a good few years in the tank, this is going to amaze allcomers when it hits the market, and I imagine it will only improve and mellow over the coming five years. 19/20
RED
2024 Torbreck, The Steading, Barossa Valley, SA 15.5%
The Steading is a 57% Grenache, 33% Shiraz, and 10% Mataro blend, and it is another vintage in a run of stellar wines under this label. With more weight, darkness and power than the beautiful 2023, this is a purple-fruit-soaked wine with an extraordinary stance on the palate, and the aura here is of a very grand wine, and it is always a bargain price! With 5000 cases made, this suave creation is absolutely extraordinary, and I cannot recommend it enough. 19/20
2024 Torbreck, Hillside Vineyard Grenache, Barossa Valley, SA 15.5%
Pure, clean, and aromatic, with rhubarb and cherries that trampoline on your tongue, there is white-wine freshness on the finish that makes this beautiful Grenache sing. Planted in 1951, this terraced vineyard, packed with bush vines, is dry-grown, and while the very best picks end up in this Hillside wine, the other two parts go to Steading, which is the reason The Steading is such a mighty creation. Only 350 cases were made, and it is pure, lifted and gorgeously expressive. 18.5/20
2024 Torbreck, The Struie, Barossa Valley, SA, 15.5%
Made from 70% Barossa and 30% Eden Valley Shiraz, this is a stunningly deep and cool wine, with wells of dark fruit and a sleek feel throughout. The black-ink hue, with purple fruit, punctuated by dry spices, and with an incredibly long finish, this is an erudite The Struie, and the balance and class here are world-class. This is certainly one of the longest and most elegant The Struie I have tasted. While the overall theme is elegance, the finish is rigid and commanding, guaranteeing a long life ahead here. 19+/20
2023 Torbreck, The Pict, Barossa Valley, SA, 15.5%
Made from century-old Mataro fruit from Greenock, this is a remarkable The Pict with an incredible perfume and a magnificent palate. It was picked a little earlier than usual, with the aim of not letting it take on the same shape as a Shiraz while retaining its unique Mourvèdre silhouette. The nose is awesome, purple, peppercorn-soaked and vanilla-kissed. The finish has such lift and brightness; it is remarkable. I love this The Pict, and it makes me think of classical Parisian waiter service, waxed moustaches, starched whites, and dramatic décor, with huge wine glasses and a perfect, generous pour. Now let’s take a look at the menu! Part theatrical, part classical, and effortlessly elegant, this is a mightily classy Mourvèdre, and it sits at the peak of this grape’s international pile! 19+/20
2023 Torbreck, Les Amis, Barossa Valley, SA 15.5%
Made from 1960s-planted Grenache, this is a serious, super-concentration wine with more than a touch of Gandalf’s pipe on the nose! Only 100 cases were made, and it is the darkest and most cosmic wine I have tasted under this label. This is a fabulous, single-site, dry-grown vineyard with super-low yields. There is a deeply foresty wine with incredible DNA, and the palate is bloody, ferrous, complex and herbal. There is a deep, dark chocolate and cherry-red ganache rebound of flavour on the finish, making this sylvan creation decadent, too. 19+/20
2023 Torbreck, The Descendant, Barossa Valley, SA, 15%
Descended from RunRig, and made from Shiraz and Viognier, this is always a spectacular wine, and it usually packs an extraordinary perfume. The cooler 2023 has heightened the aromatics to an extraordinarily penetrative level, and you can smell the spice, pepper, and iodine from a foot away! This is, without doubt, one of the most Olympic perfumes of all time. In addition, the acidity is high-tensile, and the chassis shows more rigidity and coolness throughout. And then there are the tannins that rake at the dirt like bullocks straining to be unleashed. And yet, with all this drama, the palate is pristine, alluring, hypnotic and evisceratingly cool. 19.5/20
2024 Torbreck, The Gask, Barossa Valley, SA, 14.5%
The Gask is the Eden Valley Old Vine Shiraz in the collection, and it is a hedonistic and spicy wine, a full-frontal assault on all we know about elite Eden Shiraz, but at a much more affordable price! It comes from high-altitude, stony, dry land laden with rocks and mineral deposits. And guess what, this wine is Asterix’s magic potion in the glass, with Obelix’s menhir’s forming the immovable power source in The Gask’s core. Velvety, cooling, bright, and bloody, but also phenomenally exotic and rose petal-soaked, this is an amazing wine, and it is likely to put an Eden Valley aficionado on high alert! 19/20
2023 Torbreck, The Factor, Barossa Valley, SA 15.5%
The Factor commands respect, and with two years in 40% new French barriques, this is the super-posh wine in the Torbreck armoury. In 2023, the fruit is astonishingly luxurious, and it appears on the palate silently like a massive, black, stealthy and relentless submarine. Nautilus-like with extraordinary texture, acres of cacao and crates of spices and peppers, there is even a twist of Turkish bazaar here, which lightens the menacing mood. This is yet another staggeringly complete wine, with epic presence in the glass. 19.5/20
2023 Torbreck, RunRig, Barossa Valley, SA, 15.5%
I have written many times about being the first person in the UK to buy this wine and list it on my Bibendum Restaurant wine list back in the ‘90s. That relationship has carried on unbroken to this day, and every time I taste RunRig, my heart takes a leap. In 2023, this is yet another super-serious and stunningly deep wine. The perfume is elevated, the palate is dense and regal, and the finish is initially ostentatious, then, at once, becomes contemplative and sage-like. Very dry, fine and hard, this is a classic example of a powerful wine that will drink well in its youth and then follow the two-decade RunRig mantra without missing a beat. I went back to my empty glass an hour later, and it was still utterly incredible. I would give it a higher score if I could, but 2023 RunRig will have to live with another perfect twenty. 20/20
2021 Torbreck, The Laird, Barossa Valley, SA 15.5%
The Laird is a primordial leviathan in 2021 with immense ripeness, power and musculature. It is also amazingly showy and imposing, and it rushes, before you have a chance to be prepared, whereupon it assaults every inch of your olfactory circuit. Clouds of haze, comets and shooting stars fizz and arc across your taste buds and tectonic plates of flavour collide. The fruit density and sweetness are part seismic and part absurd, and while it is almost too big for my tastes, there are legions of fans who will go gaga for this wine. 19.5+/20
2021 Torbreck, The Forebear, Barossa Valley, SA 15%
If The Laird is a hulking, bristling, towering Shiraz, The Forebear is the epitome of monastic calm and imperious energy. It is a Le Musigny of the Shiraz world, with a nose off the charts and a palate finely cut and impeccably well-tailored. This is an extraordinary wine, with sensational bravado, and it’s like the annals of history of this grape have been distilled into one bottle of ostentatious wine. 2021 The Forebear is thrilling in every way, and the tannins are unnervingly pliable and athletic, and they will protect it for years to come. 20+/20