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Torbreck

Torbreck

Torbreck Vintners was founded in 1994 by Dave Powell, who named it after a logging forest where he had worked in Scotland. His desire was to honour the vineyards of the Barossa Valley which has some of the oldest vines on the planet. He set about sourcing unique plots of fruit, concentrating on the grape varieties of the Rhône but, as he lacked the capital to buy the grapes outright, he initially share-farmed the vineyards. The first wine was made in 1995 and released in 1997 - the RunRig - which created intense consumer interest. During the time Powell was involved with Torbreck he amassed an impressive number of growers, helping them to resurrect gnarly old vines from ancient dry-grown vineyards, crafting impressive wines from these low-yielding vines, and international success followed. The estate was acquired by Pete Kight in 2008 (he founded the electronic financial services firm CheckFree in 1981, which he sold in 2007). The Barossa was founded by Silesian immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Europe and English gentleman farmers, who both planted vineyards in the 1840's. Provenance continues to be everything to Torbreck. They source fruit from multi-generational growers, whose descendants first planted the vines, working in close partnership with the growers seeking to understand the differences between all their incredible sites to capture the integrity of every single block. Additionally some of the vineyards Torbreck have accepted fruit from for many years are now under their custodianship, including the historic Hillside vineyard a Lyndoch, the Laird Vineyard in the subregion of Marananga, and the Greenock Keller Vineyard owned by the Schultz family. The fruit from these venerated vines have unique concentration and flavour with phenomenal density. With the exception of Semillon, the grapes used for Torbreck wines are all Rhône varietals: the red Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvedre, and the white Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne. The grapes are treated with the upmost respect. A minimal intervention approach is taken in the cellar, native yeasts are utilised for fermentation, the wines are bottle unfined and unfiltered and there is no recipe for barrel ageing – it takes as long as it takes. Torbreck take great care with their barrels, which are handmade in France by Dominique Laurent; he has his own cooperage and crafts what are widely regarded as some of the world's finest barrels, and are so exceptional that they are known as “Magic Casks”. The oak for the 225 litre barriques is personally harvested from Forêt de Tronçais in Allier. The trunks are split by hand, then hand split again into staves which are almost twice as thick as machine split staves, and therefore perfect for long maturation. These are then aged for between 48 to 54 months at a location more exposed and weathered than the average maturation sites to ensure maximum seasoning. The staves are then handmade into barrels, heated over three different flames for several hours, which is much longer than the standard process, but does not result in heavy toast due to the remarkable density of the wood. Torbreck crafts rich wines, with structure and length, which emulate the style of the Rhône Valley, and express over 175 years of Barossa tradition.

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