Torbreck
Since it was founded in 1994 Torbreck has been on a quest to build one of the finest wine estates in the world. Today their vision pays homage to the vineyards of the Barossa Valley, home to some of the oldest vines on the planet.
The vision is to Torbreck Vintners, which was founded in 1994, was born out of a desire to create some of the greatest wines in the world by using the incredibly old, dry-grown, Shiraz vineyards that surround the Barossa Valley. Securing these vineyards initially involved share-farming the property, a practice which involves paying the owner a percentage of the market rate for their grapes in return for managing the vineyard. It was this share-farming principle, together with their selection of some of the most highly prized vineyards, that formed the founding pillars of Torbreck’s incredible international success. The vineyards, in particular, enabled them to source some of the very best fruit in the Barossa Valley, which is home to some of the oldest and most precious vines in the world. Provenance is everything to Torbreck. They believe that the Barossa Valley, with its gentle Mediterranean climate and 175 year history of Silesian and English winemaking, is most exciting place in the world to make wine. There is a European sense of tradition here that means that vines planted in the 1840s – many of them Rhone varieties such as Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvédre – still thrive and bear fruit of unique concentration and flavour.
Torbreck was created with the aim of building one of the finest wine estates in the world.
It was by drawing on this tradition that Torbreck produced their first wine, RunRig, in 1995 which was crushed from just three tonnes of Shiraz and Viognier grapes.
Today, Torbreck pays tribute to these vineyards with minimal intervention, creating wines of richness, structure and length that age gracefully.
Whilst the company’s reputation is largely based around its red wines, they have also used the Descendant vineyard to plant Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne which are blended into white wine.
Torbreck’s vision of creating a 100% estate-produced and bottled wine was realised in 2008 when a new winery and administration facility was opened on land acquired from a neighbouring property. This facility enables the grapes to be handpicked, and vinified using the best and most modern equipment available. The wine is then matured in temperature controlled cellars and bottled ‘on the estate’ using a state-of-the art bottling line, before being shipped to many of the world’s best restaurants and fine wine retailers.
Today they also have a beautiful cellar door in which to welcome visitors to taste their excellent Barossa wines.
Since its founding in 1994, Torbreck has been committed to creating exceptional Rhone style red and white wines that reveal the true character of the Barossa’s very best vineyards.
Torbreck is the name of a forest near Inverness, Scotland and there is more than a passing nod to the Celts in their wine naming conventions.
The Laird of the Estate in Scotland is the Lord of the Manor and master of all he surveys, and is an apt name for Torbreck’s flagship wine – a single vineyard Shiraz comes from an old vineyard in Marananga and spends three years in Dominque Laurent barriques.
Their second wine, The RunRig is a Shiraz Viognier blend, which has drawn comparison with the beautifully fragrant and tautly structured wines produced from the slopes of the Northern Rhône Valley’s appellation of Côte Rôtie. Full-bodied with great intensity, amazing freshness and extraordinary concentration, the multi-layered palate displays the fruit purity.
Among Torbreck’s other top wines is The Pict. It is made from Mataro (or Mourvédre as it is called in France), which was once a ‘workhorse variety’ used for fortified winemaking in Australia, but is now receiving due acknowledgement as a superb varietal table wine, taking its place alongside Barossa Shiraz and Grenache.
One of Torbreck’s other top wines that is worthy of mention is The Descendant – a single vineyard wine. The vineyard is located next to the Torbreck winery block on Roennfeldt Road and was planted in 1994 with cuttings taken from our RunRig grower vineyards – some of the oldest genetic vine material in Australia.
