Torbreck The Struie

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. he 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. Torbreck The Struie s 100% Shiraz from 44 year-old vines in the Eden Valley and vines over 80 years old in the Barossa Valley. These are dry-grown, low-yielding vines which Dave Powell has helped rescue from oblivion. The Eden Valley, at a higher altitude than the Barossa, provides fruit with distinctive flavours and higher acidity than that from the Barossa. All the grapes are hand-picked and fermented in open fermenters. The wine is matured for 18 months in a combination of new and seasoned French oak barrels. The Struie is the name of a hill near Glenmorangie in north-east Scotland; Dave Powell spent some time as a forestry worker in the Torbreck Forest nearby.

Tasting Notes: Torbreck The Struie has a wonderfully healthy sheen and great viscosity. The initial aromas of black raspberries, crème de cacao and star anise yield to a fragrant core of slow roasted meats, scorched earth and olive tapenade. Full bodied and tightly structured the palate shows phenomenal ripeness and brooding richness along with a razor-like spine of beautifully integrated acidity and mountain like tannin that will greatly reward those with the patience to cellar it.

Reviews: "Very similar colour to RunRig, despite no viognier; a more obviously focused wine on the bouquet and palate alike, black fruits and oak pushing other characters to the sidelines. The suspicion is this wine may emerge as the better of the two in a decade or so." Drink: 2025, 94 Points, James Halliday, The Wine Companion

"The 2007 Struie is 100% Shiraz from Barossa and Eden Valleys. It spent 18 months in 20% new French oak. A glass-coating opaque purple color, it sports a nose of lavender, game, bacon, and blueberry. Medium to full-bodied, it is light on its feet despite its size, dense, and layered. It has enough fi ne-grained tannin to evolve for 3-4 years. It will offer a drinking window extending from 2012 to 2022. Drink: 2012 - 2022 | Date Tasted: Dec 09" 92 Points, Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate.

 
     

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