Torbreck Runrig Shiraz 2016

Torbreck is a winery on a mission to become one of the world's great wine brands. Since 1994, they have remained committed to creating exceptional Rhone-style red and white wines that reflect the very best vineyards in Australia's famous Barossa region. Provenance is everything to them, and they believe that the Barossa is the most exciting place to make wine in the world. With a European sense of tradition, Torbreck pays tribute to the vineyards with minimal intervention, creating wines of richness, structure and length that age gracefully. The multi-generational growers, whose descendants arrived here nearly two centuries ago, are the backbone of Torbreck's winemaking aspirations. They work in partnership with the people of the Barossa who grow their fruit, always aiming to get the very best out of their vineyard sites. At Torbreck, they constantly seek to understand the difference between all of these special places in the Barossa and how this combination of soil, climate and farming experience is reflected in unique grape flavors. They are simply custodians, enhancing the innate expressiveness of the wines and enabling them to reveal over time their individual origins and personality. Torbreck is actually named after the forest near Inverness, Scotland where the winery's founder, David Powell worked as a lumberjack after completing university studies.

The winemaking style at Torbreck is meticulous and dedicated to producing exceptional wines. They use carefully selected 225-litre oak barriques for maturation, known as Dominique Laurent 'Magic Casks'. The oak is personally harvested from Forêt de Tronçais in Allier, and the staves are aged for 48 to 54 months at an exposed location for maximum seasoning. The staves are then hand-made into barrels and heated over three differing flames for several hours, resulting in a gentle toast due to the remarkable density of the wood. Torbreck's winemaking style reflects their commitment to producing exceptional wines that reflect the unique terroir of the Barossa region.

The Torbreck RunRig Shiraz is a wine that pays homage to the Highland clans "RunRig" system of communal land distribution. This system emphasized the communal element of the whole rather than any one farm, and the RunRig Shiraz embodies this philosophy by blending Shiraz from old dry-grown vineyards with Viognier to complement the strengths and complexities of each individual parcel of fruit, giving the wine a further dimension. The resulting wine has often drawn comparisons with the beautifully fragrant and tautly structured wines produced from the steep slopes of the Northern Rhône Valley's Appellation of Côte Rôtie. With this wine, Torbreck has created a true masterpiece that embodies the spirit of community and the beauty of the land.

The Torbreck Runrig Shiraz 2016 is a densely textured wine that rewards those with patience. Despite a dry winter during 2015, rains in January and March 2016 freshened the older vines and provided long, slow ripening periods in between, resulting in a stand-out vintage with high-quality fruit. Upon opening, intense, lifted aromatics of dense blueberries and blackberries and dark chocolate come to the fore with an opulent profile of mulberry plum and five-spice. The palate is plush and velvety textured with red cherry and stone fruits, clove and hints of dark chocolate. The complex layers and fruit characters continue to evolve in the glass with hints of ironstone, anise, blackberry and pepper becoming more persistent in the finish. The wine is a blend of 98% Shiraz and 2% Viognier. It spent 30 months on new, second fill and third fill French oak barriques, completing a natural malolactic fermentation in the barrel and resting on fine lees throughout maturation to enhance texture. The wine has crimson and deep purple hues with savoury tones and firm tannins that interplay with a generous, silky, textural mid-palate weight. The finish is firm and persistent, making this wine a great candidate for cellaring for 15 to 20 years.

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. Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate, 100 Points. 

Restrained and elegant, opening up with ripe black and red fruit flavours. Touches of black licorice and black walnut liqueur plump up the sense of concentration. The tannins are dense but polished, never getting in the way of the harmony. Elements of clove and tobacco emerge on the finish. Shiraz and Viognier. Drink now through 2039. Maryann Worobiec, Wine Spectator, 96 points.

The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Shiraz, Viognier
Country - Australia
Region - Barossa, South Australia
Vintage - 2016
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 15%