Torbreck Cuvée Juveniles Grenache / Shiraz / Mataro Unoaked

Wine information: Torbreck Vintners was founded in 1994 by David Powell and is located at Marananga on the western ridge of the Barossa Valley. It is named after a forest situated just south of Inverness in the Highlands of Scotland. 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, so that he could buy the fruit for his own wine. The first wine made under the Torbreck label was during the 1995 vintage, with the finished wines released in 1997. The wines are made in a style emulating those of the Rhone Valley and are made from various grapes including red grapes Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro as well as white grapes Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne. The overwhelming majority of his vines are dry-grown, nearly all are 80 - 125 years old and are tended and harvested by hand. The wines have an extraordinary combination of power, intensity, complexity and great finesse. Juveniles is a 'cult' Parisian wine bar run by an enigmatic ex-pat Englishman, Tim Johnston. He's been in Paris more than twenty years and is a passionate promoter of the Rhone Valley and it's wines, particularly individualist, quality minded producers. Dave Powell hit it off with Tim over the years, eventually making a wine exclusively for his wine bar in 1999. In keeping with Tim and Dave's love of Rhone Valley varietals and the fact that they are equally at home in the Barossa, the blend constitutes old-vine Grenache, Mataro (Mourvedre) and Shiraz and was elevaged entirely in stainless steel. Fermented in single vineyard batches, blended in tank and allowed to go through natural malo-lactic fermentation before being bottled unfiltered and unfined towards the end of the year. 60% Grenache, 20% Shiraz & 20% Mataro.

Tasting Notes: Torbreck Cuvée Juveniles is bold and seductive, this youthful, unoaked blend encapsulates all that is great in natural, pure, unseasoned wine. Its fragrance, intensity and energy are all reminiscent of freshly fermenting must, with ripe juicy flavours of blackberry, spiced cherries, minerals and Asian spices wrapped around a skeleton of fresh acidity and fine mineral laden tannins. Soft and sensuous, this wine is frightfully drinkable already, but as with its predecessors will greatly recompense those who choose to give it a few years in the cellar.

Reviews: "60% Grenache and 20% each of Shiraz and Mataro.  Bright red. Sexy aromas of candied red berries, spicecake, anise and rose, along with a sneaky note of white pepper. Refreshingly brisk redcurrant and strawberry flavors give way to deeper cherry and put on weight while retaining urgency. There's a pinot-like precision here that's very suave, and the finish is brisk, focused and very persistent. I could drink this all day." 90 Points Steven Tanzer (IWC).

"A blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Shiraz and 20% Mataro, the 2009 Cuvee Juveniles came from vines averaging 90 years old and yielding around 22 hl/ha.  Deep garnet-purple, it has a profoundly fruity nose, giving fragrant notes of warm raspberries, strawberries, some funk and earth plus a little tar and black pepper.  Full-bodied, it offers a medium level of silky tannins, crisp acid to balance the concentrated fruit and a long finish.  Delicious now, it should remain fresh and vibrant through 2015+." 91 Points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate.   

 
     

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