Product Description
The Forebear is a tribute to those who came before — the pioneering ancestors whose vision, stewardship, and values preserved these heritage vines, allowing them to thrive through the ages. This single-vineyard Shiraz is a testament to the Barossa Valley’s ancient soils and the sustainable viticulture practiced by generations of local farmers. Despite challenging growing conditions in 2020, where hot and dry conditions resulted in smaller yields, the older vineyards with deep roots yielded deeply concentrated and textured fruit. The result is a wine of immense character that reflects its place of origin and the legacy of those who have cared for the land.
Cellaring Potential - Drink from 2025, cellaring to 2050+
Food Pairing - Ideal with game meats, poultry, or tuna steaks. Serve at 16°C/60°F.
Aging Potential - This wine is designed for extended aging, promising to evolve and captivate for decades, making it a perfect addition to any collector’s cellar.
Maker:
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 flavours. 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.
Wine style/Cuvee:
Chief Winemaker, Ian Hongell, explains "we chose the name 'The Forebear' to honour the pioneering spirit of the Springbetts and other pioneering families and their role in establishing the Barossa as of the great winegrowing regions of the world. This wine is our tribute to those who came before us." The vines are from an ancient Heritage clone originally brought from Europe as cuttings and planted before the discovery of Phylloxera. These ancestor vines (125+ years old) are embedded in soils of sand over deep loam and red clay. The Forebear is crafted from the original 12 rows of ancient Shiraz vines planted by the Springbett family (1849) which represent an irreplaceable link to the early history of the Barossa as a viticultural treasure from the first generation of European settlers. They are Torbreck’s oldest collection of vines from any single plot. The cooler evening breezes that flow through the southern end of the Barossa produce an elegant style of Shiraz that is regarded for its distinctive aromatic, lifted floral notes and red fruit flavours, across a medium weight line intertwined with subtle rounded tannins. The core of red berry fruit and texture derived from these very old and gnarly vines produce an unmistakable degree of finesse and complexity that was calling out to bottled as a single site expression, and a reflection of place. Torbreck chief winemaker Ian Hongell and viticulturist Nigel Blieschke, who have driven this project since 2014, were firm in their belief that this vineyard had a rightful place in Torbreck’s pursuit of single-site wines of significance and pedigree.
Tasting Notes
NOSE – Red Fruits, Wild Thype, Peppercorns
A complex bouquet unfolds with a vibrant mix of red berry fruits, seamlessly complemented by savoury notes of wild thyme, garrigue, graphite, and freshly cracked peppercorns. Aromatic and full of depth, inviting the drinker to explore its layers of character.
PALATE – Structured Elegance
A beautiful textural mouthfeel, enveloped by soft, round tannins. The acidity is bright and cleansing, with a finish that is long, memorable and has savoury complexity.
FINISH – Long and Balanced
The finish is clean and lingering, with a final burst of freshness, balanced perfectly with the wine’s subtle complexity. Fine tannins and bright acidity ensure the wine remains elegant and refined, yet powerful enough to suggest incredible aging potential.
Reviews + Accolades:
The 2020 The Forebear is sourced from the oldest plantings in the Hillside Vineyard in Lyndoch—12 rows planted in the early 1850s. For this tasting, the wine has been open now for three hours, and yet it needs more in the way of oxygen than what it currently has. The wine remains aromatically closed, with notions of black fruit, exotic spice, charry oak and forest floor. This has peat, old leather, jarrah and black cherries in profusion. The palate is shaped by intense graphite tannins, which feel closely knit and exclusively the property of old vines; they are silty and settle in the mouth—if you need a visual—like watching a pint of Guinness settle in the glass. A monumental wine, it needs space and quiet to be able to absorb the layers of complexity and undulating waves of flavor through the finish. - Erin Larkin, Robert Parkers Wine Advocate, 98 Points.
The Finer Details
Style - Red Wine
Varietal - Shiraz
Country - Australia
Region - Barossa Valley, South Australia
Vintage - 2020
Bottle Size - 750ml
ABV - 15.5%
