Torbreck Goes 3/3 - With Perfect Scores
20/20 Points - The RunRig / The Laird / The Forebear
2024 has brought us the first of the inaugural release of the (2019) ‘The Forebear’ and delivered outstanding scores across the board for 2021 Torbreck releases. They have well and truly cemented their position among Penfolds and Henschke as one of the Great Australian Shiraz producers.
The 2019 vintage wines from Torbreck, particularly The Laird and The Forebear Shiraz, highlight the winery's mastery in producing wines of outstanding quality and character. These wines are a testament to their dedication to preserving the integrity of their vineyards and showcasing the Barossa Valley’s undisputed power, complexity, and class.
The Laird, with its profound depth and dense, layered complexity, showcases the pinnacle of Torbreck’s winemaking prowess. The Forebear, an inaugural release, stands as a testament to the meticulous vineyard restoration efforts and the incredible potential of the Australian old-vine Shiraz.
Then we get to the 2021 RunRig, we know it’s going to be one of the greats, but we just don’t know how great. I think I’ll let Erin Larkin & Matthew Jukes do the talking with their reviews below on this one…
As we celebrate these remarkable releases, we can't help but wonder, what's next for Torbreck? With a proven track record of innovation and excellence, the future looks incredibly promising. Will they continue to unearth single vineyard gems or introduce new, groundbreaking blends?
One thing is certain—Torbreck will continue to captivate our attention over here in the West, with its unwavering commitment to quality and its clear intent to strive to create the best of Barossa.
2019 Torbreck 'The Laird' Shiraz - $850.00
20/20 points, Matthew Jukes
The Laird is used to being top dog at Torbreck and now that The Forebear has arrived it will have to share the throne. Has this worried The Laird? Not a bit of it because it has allowed this wine to become even more of a showman. 2019 is a particularly un-Laird-like vintage! It is finally enjoying its celebrity status instead of acting monkish and reclusive in the glass. When you wear a massive price tag and appeal to a different level of wine nerd, these feelings are inevitable. Self-doubt, reflection and nervousness are all part and party of a superstar lifestyle, however, with The Forebear presumably sucking up column inches and taking the spotlight off The Laird for a moment or two, this wine has returned, rightly, to loving life. As these two opened up in the glass, The Laird sprinted past The Forebear, high-fiving its fans with gleamingly bright fruit and epic length. Of course, this is an incredible creation, and it is used to attracting nose-bleed scores from the critics, but there is a new lease of life here that has allowed The Laird to relax and finally enjoy its position at the top of the pile (alongside its new stablemate). But will it retain its position out front? I wouldn’t bet on it. The Forebear has very special energy in its core. One final thought – are wines sentient beings? I have a few rather whacky ideas along these lines. For anyone who doubts this could be a possibility, if you taste the last couple of wines in this review, you could be forgiven for believing that they are and also that they know where they stand in relation to each other, appreciating their differences and relishing their familial ties. I believe. Do you? (Drink 2030 – 2050)
98 points, Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
Potent and precise, the densely layered taffeta tannins sheathe and support brooding crème-de-mûre and dark compote fruit, yet there is a blossom fragrance and enticing savoury detail, with earthy loam, black truffle, cep powder and gunmetal, together with chocolate, nutmeg and toasty oak. Beautifully controlled, with the energy, muscle and persistence to go long distance. Hails from the Laird vineyard (previously called Gnadenfrei) in Marananga, planted in 1958.
96+ points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
The 2019 The Laird is savory, earthy and dense, a true Darth Vader wine in every sense: black, firm, gently rasping, authoritative and powerful. On the nose, the wine leads with resin and kicked black dirt, pipe tobacco, charred sandalwood, blackberries and blood plum. On the palate, the wine is laden with black peppercorns and black olive brine, lashings of charcoal, black tea and every other manner of black thing (clove, arnica, salted licorice and balsamic poached strawberries). It is an eloquent product of the dry 2019 season (300 or so days without effective rain!), and ultimately, it is this that makes the wine great—its ability to express the year and the vineyard with such expressiveness is thrilling. Actually, going back to the wine now, it is opening up (it was poured straight from bottle without decanting) and becoming more fleshy, defined by Satsuma plum and mulberry and detailed aromatically. This wine will evolve gracefully over the years. 15.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.
96 points, Ned Godwin, James Suckling
A warm, low-yielding vintage. Sourced from vineyards dating from the 1960s, prone to cooling afternoon breezes that facilitate a long hang-time and supple tannins. Violet, clove and cardamon notes. A complex potpourri of spices confers savoriness to the blue and black fruit. The oak is toasty but well placed to corral and compress the fruit rather than overwhelm it. Drinkable now, but best from 2028.
2019 Torbreck 'The Forebear' Shiraz - $850.00
20++/20 points, Matthew Jukes
There are 12 rows of Shiraz, which were planted in c1852 and they made their way into this inaugural vintage of The Forebear. The Torbreck team started to resurrect these vines in 2014, and when Ian Hongell joined Torbreck in 2017, he saw something genuinely momentous here. This fruit was previously tucked away in Woodcutters (the ‘estate-level’ Shiraz) while its vineyard transformation was underway, and in 2019, this wine was given its chance to perform solo under The Forebear name. The verb – to forebear – means to hold oneself back. As a noun, it means ancestor, which refers to the founders of this vineyard who left Wiltshire in 1848 and settled in Lyndoch. Therefore, The Forebear is the perfect name for this incredible wine. Whereas the Laird is a Marananga-based wine, The Forebear is from Lyndoch, and consequently, it cannot be compared to the wine below. The Forebear is matured in 100% new, tight-grained French oak barriques for 24 months, and the Laird sees three whole years. The origins and regimes are different, and they suit the fruit perfectly. There were only 100 dozen made of 2019 The Forebear, and I cannot imagine this yield will change, so this will always be a very rare wine. As I tasted this wine and watched it evolve in the glass over four hours, I knew I was in the presence of greatness. As always with a Torbreck wine, there is a flavour transparency despite the density of black fruit, liquorice, tar and butcher’s apron notes. It is difficult to understand until you spend several hours unlocking its code. I wrote the word ‘Mordor’ in my notebook – it is that dark – and this might be a barrier to entry for some, particularly those unfamiliar with Torbreck wines, but it is sensational! I have never tasted the inaugural vintage of a wine to which I have given a perfect score. I hoped it would happen one day, and it took 38 years working in the wine trade for this to happen, and it happened with 2019 Torbreck The Forebear. (2030 – 2055)
98 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
The 2019 The Forebear Shiraz is the inaugural release of this wine, positioned alongside the Laird. The fruit is sourced from the oldest plantings in the Hillside Vineyard in Lyndoch—12 rows planted in the early 1850s. The wine is astounding. It is inky black in its fruit spectrum, infused from all sides with gravelly tannin that feel both velvety and gritty; there's loads of chewy tannin to support the kaleidoscopic fruit, and monumental length. This is a very impressive wine, memorable and precise. I can understand why a single vineyard was made from this special parcel. So, on the nose, you get mulberry, blackberry, blueberry and ironstone, rust, blood plum, raspberry pip, aniseed, sumac and clove. The tannins splay across the palate and leave a trail of ferruginous spice in their wake, with inflections of ras el hanout, pomegranate molasses, pink peppercorns and roast beef crust. This is a whopping wine. Superb. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax, with a black front label.
2021 Torbreck 'Les Amis' Grenache - $195.00
18.5+/20 points, Matthew Jukes
Les Amis is often the most confusing wine in the Torbreck line-up, and the 2021 made me write ‘Rodin’s The Thinker’ in my notebook. Contemplative, calm, solid, and powerfully proportioned, this wine is a great success because behind the mass of fruit, there is beautiful, cleansing freshness. A cleverly-judged 30% of whole bunches are used here, and I feel the stem notes have worked beautifully in tandem with the bright acidity in this wine. The result is an energetic framework that gives the fruit notes rigour and definition. The grip is rather addictive, and it seems as if the fruit has crampons attached, which anchor it successfully to the palate, making it a rare expression of Grenache that doesn’t slide by without so much as a how do you do. (Drink 2025 – 2035)
95 points, Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
The Slade vineyard in Greenock produces this atypically dense, well-structured Grenache, with a firmer acid and tannin profile than most. In a milder vintage – and with a little whole-bunch ferment – it throws long and reveals a little more of itself when, sometimes, Les Amis can feel impenetrable. Nonetheless, it retains savoury nuance, with medicinal, cough sweet herbaceousness and a touch of eucalyptus to the red-fruited, warming kirsch core.
94 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
The 2021 Les Amis Grenache is spicy and wide, meaty and yet floral, with black tea, dried rose petals, graphite, roast beef crust, a hint of pastrami, blood orange and salted macadamias. The wine is shaped by charry oak (matured in barrique as opposed to Harris and Hillside foudre). This lends an altogether different angle to the wine, and I must admit, I quite like it. The oak is in the charry, bacon fat, pipe resin, tobacco spectrum, and it sits very well with the sweet, floral fruit. This is a very interesting wine here. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.
2016 Torbreck 'RunRig' Shiraz Viognier - Museum Release - $475.00
100 points, Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate.
A blend of 98% Shiraz and 2% Viognier made just prior to bottling, the 2016 RunRig is a complete masterpiece. It kicks off with elegant notes of pencil shavings accenting blueberries and blackberries on the nose, then shows incredible, palate-staining intensity of fruit in the mouth. It’s full-bodied, plush and velvety without being unstructured and manages to be fruit-forward yet savoury on the long-lasting finish, where it picks up hints of mocha and black olives. This should be drinkable with pleasure throughout its entire two decade life (it may live longer from cold cellars or in larger formats), but if I were lucky enough to have a bottle or two, I’d try the first one about 10 years out.
97 points, James Suckling
Old-vine magic. Some even come from 1858. The decadence and dusty, antique aromas and flavors are very impressive, yet it’s not overdone. Licorice, dark berries, smoke and graphite. A blend of 98% shiraz and 2% viognier. Better in 2021.
97 points, Josh Raynolds, Vinous
Saturated violet. A deeply perfumed bouquet displays ripe black and blue fruits, exotic spices, potpourri and incense that are enlivened by a smoky mineral topnote. Offers alluringly sweet, penetrating cherry, blueberry, violet floral pastille and spicecake flavors show impressive focus and vivacity for their brawn. The floral and spice notes come back emphatically on the wonderfully long finish, which features smoothly interwoven tannins and a reverberating mineral note.
2021 Torbreck 'RunRig' Shiraz Viognier - $285.00
20+/20 points, Matthew Jukes
2021 RunRig will make you turn your head while you gawp in disbelief. This wine has something I have never seen in Runrig before – an immovable mountain of terroir, monolithically anchored in its core. Standing at the foot of this gargantuan flavour, I could not see the summit. There is so much ravishing Shiraz skin draped decorously around this totemic terroir it appears wholly demonic and fear-inducing. But the fruit notes are as refined and finely tuned as ever, providing the taster with a baffling counterpoint between the Dark Side and a Venetian dandy, resplendent in its filigree and finery. I cannot remember seeing two such opposing characters in one wine before, and every time I went back to the glass, there was more to admire, and these elements fuse and shape-shift into a glorious amalgam of sophistication and power. Of course, it deserves a perfect score. This wine is unique and uniquely stunning. I wish I could attend every opening of 2021 RunRig – oh, to be a fly on the wall, listening to the gasps of delight when people are lucky enough to taste this wine. (2030 – 2045)
98 points, Erin Larkin, The Wine Advocate
This is the wine that people seem to lose their minds over, and just between you and me, I do understand that. It's one of a handful of super sensational Shiraz Viognier from this great country, and the ability of this cuvée to speak so eloquently of both the Barossa and its harmonious varietals is impressive to say the least. So is, while we're discussing it, the density and volume of the wine. On the nose, the 2021 RunRig is savory and meaty, with charry oak at the fore, backed by black cherry, graphite, dried rose petals, red and purple fruit, flowers and black tea. There is both detail and density. On the palate, the wine is both silky and huge. It's momentous, long and complex. It's like the volume has been turned up in every possible way, and what I know of sound mixing is on show here; it's a loud mix, but all the elements are perfectly in balance. And ultimately, that's what's up. Like Nick Cave, it's got it all, and it does it with conviction and intellect. It's a great wine, from a great season. Bigger than perhaps ever before. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.
95 points, Sarah Ahmed, Decanter
Seamlessly crafted from six vineyards with a splash of Viognier, the slate and graphite tannins dynamically weave in and out of scented blackberry and raspberry fruit like a needle sewing thread. Thyme, blossom, cedar, baking spice and bitter chocolate notes bring lift and nuance, with saturating, fruity acidity and powdery tannins. Long and fine, but focused, with a beguiling flow. Expressive and harmonious, it reflects a mild, even growing season.
