Torbreck Vintners

Barossa Valley, South Australia

Torbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in 1994. The roots go back to 1992 when Dave, who was then working at Rockford, began to discover and clean up a few sections of dry-grown old vines.
Near lifeless, he nurtured them back to health and was rewarded with small parcels of fruit that he made into wine. Dave was able to secure a contract for the supply of grapes from a run-down but ancient Shiraz vineyard.
He managed to raise enough money to share-farm the vineyard, a practice which involves paying the owner a percentage of the market rate for his grapes in return for totally managing the vineyard.

This share-farming principle has enabled Torbreck to use fruit from the very best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, which is home to some of the most precious old vines in the world.
In 1995 Dave crushed three tonnes of grapes and fermented them into wine in a shed on his 12-hectare Marananga property. He named his wine 'Torbreck' after a forest in Scotland where he worked as a lumberjack.

The Torbreck endeavour is based around the classic Barossa Valley varietals of Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro, and a love for the wines of France's Rhone Valley.
Torbreck doesn't only make red wines though, we have Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne planted on our winery block which we have blended to make a white wine.

2018 Cuvée Juveniles

67% Grenache, 23% Mataro, 10% Shiraz

Cuvée Juveniles was created as a ‘Cote Du Rhone’ inspired bistro wine from the classic Barossa varieties of Grenache, Mataro (Mourvedre) and Shiraz from mostly old, unirrigated vineyards. These varieties are the cornerstone of the Barossa Valley and are intrinsic in the wines that are so easily appreciated around the world and often referred to as GSM blends by sommeliers and consumers alike.
 

£142.00 per 12 x 750ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski - 90 pts

"The unoaked 2018 Cuvee Juveniles is a blend of 67% Grenache, 23% Mataro and 10% Shiraz. It's ripe and full, verging on jammy, with black cherry and black olive aromas and flavors, supple tannins and a mouthwatering finish."

2019 Woodcutter's Shiraz

100% Shiraz

You’d imagine a high country Scottish woodcutter might like a fortifying red at the days end – something rich, warming, full bodied and affordable.
This wine reflects the up and coming Shiraz vineyards of the Barossa, rather than the battle hardened old vines that make up the core of our other cuvee’s. But like all Torbreck wines, Woodcutter’s - Shiraz receives the very best viticultural and winemaking treatment. Although this wine is constantly praised for its succulence and richness, there is also a complexity and texture which is rarely found at this price.
 

£142.00 per 12 x 750ml (IB)
£170.00 per 6 x 1500ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate)  - 91 pts

"It’s another successful vintage for this wine, which gives consumers a taste of the Torbreck style at a reasonable price. The 2018 Woodcutter’s Shiraz offers raspberry and mulberry flavors, a full-bodied, plush, supple palate and savory hints of mocha and black olive on the finish."

2018 The Steading Rouge

53% Grenache, 28% Shiraz, 19% Mataro

The Steading, a traditional name for a farm and its collection of barns, stables and outbuildings in Scotland
It is sourced from Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz vines that survived the worldwide phylloxera outbreak of the 1880s, and a century later, the vine-pull scheme in the Barossa in the 1980s.
The wine is a result of the serendipitous discovery of small remnant patches of withered ancient vines, some well over a century old, that have been carefully nurtured back to life. 
The Steading is a collection of 45 different sources of fruit, some from our own vineyard estates as well as from growers on a share-farming basis. These precious grapes are vinified separately and blended once their individual virtues have been assessed.
 

£141.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)

Huon Hooke - 94 pts

"Deep red/purple colour. The bouquet is likewise bright, fresh, clean and attractive, loaded with blackberry flavours and intense palate flavour, medium to full-bodied and with a nice touch firmness to the tannin grip. This has real depth of flavour, richness, and plenty of oomph. Fruitsweet core is typical of the vintage. (53% grenache, 28% shiraz, 19% mataro)"

2018 The Struie

100% Shiraz

The name Struie originates from a mountain in the rugged highlands of north-east Scotland, which overlooks Torbreck forest near Inverness. The view from the Struie down across the Dornoch Firth is as inspiring as that of the Valley floor from the Barossa Ranges.
While the Eden Valley region is most associated with the white wine variety, Riesling, it also produces elegant, tautly structured Shiraz which is highly prized by winemakers. This Torbreck Shiraz cuvée is a skilful blend of fruit from a single vineyard Eden Valley Shiraz and old vine Shiraz from the Barossa Valley’s Western Ranges – a marriage of elegance and intensity

£165.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£177.00 per 3 x 1500ml (IB)

Huon Hooke - 95 pts

"(Barossa Valley & Eden Valley) Very deep, bright, bold purple/red colour, with a slightly subdued but spicy aroma which also carries some of the graphite of the Barossa floor. The wine is full-bodied and ample, big and bold, with abundant soft tannins and lovely balance.
A big but elegant wine whose texture is finelygrained, not coarse. Such generosity, allied to such elegance. (25% Eden Valley) "

2017 The Factor

100% Shiraz

The manager on a highland estate is referred to as The Factor.
Many of these vineyards were planted in the 19th century and because of South Australia’s far-sighted quarantine policy, were not affected by the phylloxera outbreak that ravaged the vineyards of the world in the 1880s. They survive on their own roots more than a century later as clonal time capsules. The reputation of the Barossa as the pre-eminent red wine growing region of Australia rests firmly on wines such as this.
Brooding and densely packed, this majestic wine has the constitution to cellar for many years where it will slowly unravel its extravagant riches. The reputation of the Barossa as the pre-eminent red wine growing region of Australia rests firmly on wines such as this.

£380.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£154.00 per 1 x 1500ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate) - 95 pts

"Aged in 50% new oak, Tobreck’s 2017 The Factor boasts hickory-like smoky aromas, plus plum and blackberry fruit. It’s full-bodied and firmly built, finishing with hints of chocolate, licorice and dusty tannins. Give it another 2-3 years in the cellar, then drink it over the next decade and a half"

2017 Descendant

93% Shiraz, 7% Viognier

This single vineyard wine, located next to our winery block on Roennfeldt Road, was planted by Dave Powell in 1994 with cuttings off old RunRig vineyards - some of the oldest genetic material in Australia. The Barossa's first co-fermented Shiraz/Viognier, Descendant has been joined by many more in the last couple of years - a testament to its success.

Shiraz is crushed straight on top of Viognier, which has been lightly pressed for RunRig. The blend of fruit is then co-fermented and later the wine is matured for 18 months in barrels that had been previously used for RunRig.

£380.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£150.00 per 1 x 1500ml (IB)
£300.00 per 1 x 3000ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate) - 96 pts

"Consistently one of my favorites in the Torbreck lineup, this year’s version, the 2017 Descendant, was co-fermented with 8% Viognier and spent 18 months in barrel. It’s full-bodied, rich and decadent, delivering what Torbreck lovers expect in its dark-fruited layers of opulence. Suffused with hints of Mexican chocolate, it finishes long and softly dusty."

2017 RunRig

98% Shiraz, 2% Viognier 

The Highland clans used a ‘RunRig’ system to distribute land amongst their clansmen in a series of widely dispersed holdings. The emphasis was not on any one farm but rather the communal element of the whole. Shiraz from old dry grown vineyards is blended with Viognier, complementing the strengths and complexities of these individual parcels of fruit, whilst giving the resulting wine a further dimension.
RunRig, although wonderfully aromatic, is a wine that exhibits so much power and latent richness that it could easily be mistaken for the hugely concentrated wines sourced from the sun drenched hill of Hermitage.
 

£850.00 per 6 x 750ml (IB)
£360.00 per 1 x 1500ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate) - 98 pts

"As usual, the 2017 RunRig is approximately 2% Viognier. It spent almost 30 months in oak, 40% of which was new. Hints of peach or apricot appear on the nose, alongside notes of hickory smoke, cherries and baking spices. It’s full-bodied and concentrated but supple and silky enough to seem lighter in the mouth, showing tremendous length and elegance on the finish, where it adds nuances of cinnamon and cocoa"

2015 The Laird

100% Shiraz

In Scottish terminology, ‘The Laird’ refers to the Lord of the Manor.
This single vineyard Shiraz comes from an old vineyard in Marananga, planted in 1958. The five acre vineyard is traditionally dry grown and comes from an original Barossa clonal source. South facing, on the eastern side of a ridge separating the Seppeltsfield and Marananga appellations, these aged vines have been meticulously hand tended, traditionally farmed and pruned by a grower with a lifetime’s experience on Western Barossa soils of very dark, heavy clay loam over red friable clay. The resulting low yields of small, concentrated Shiraz berries make the vineyard the envy of all winemakers in the Barossa.

£1220.00 per 3 x 750ml (IB)
£1010.00 per 1 x 1500ml (IB)

Joe Czerwinski (Wine Advocate) - 97 pts

"Torbreck's 2015 The Laird boasts explosive aromas of Christmas spices, ripe plums, vanilla, hickory smoke and maple syrup. It's a big wine, loaded with fruit and oak, full-bodied, rich and velvety, adding hints of toasted coconut and cinnamon streusel on the long, almost dessert-like finish. For a more savory experience, age it a decade or so before pulling a cork."