Torbreck Shiraz The Struie 2020, Barossa Valley, Australia

Description

 

 

TORBRECK’s STORY

The Road to Perfection

Torbreck is on a quest to become one of the world’s great wine marques.

A critical part of this journey is remaining unwaveringly true to our core vision and not being diverted by trends and fashions.

SINCE 1994 TORBRECK HAS BEEN COMMITTED TO CREATING EXCEPTIONAL RHONE STYLE RED AND WHITE WINES REFLECTING THE VERY BEST VINEYARDS IN AUSTRALIA’S FAMOUS BAROSSA.

Provenance is everything to us. We believe the Barossa is the most exciting place to make wine in the world, with its gentle Mediterranean climate and 175 years of Silesian and English commitment to winemaking and grape-growing.

There is a European sense of tradition here that means vines planted in the 1840s – many of them Rhone varieties such as Shiraz, Grenache, Mourvédre – still thrive and bear fruit of unique concentration and flavour.

Torbreck pays tribute to these 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. Without their knowledge of the seasons and the soil, we would not have such a precious resource of fruit to work with.

Torbreck has also been fortunate to have the opportunity to invest in the protection of some of the Barossa’s most precious vineyards, after accepting fruit from them over many years. The historic Hillside Vineyard at Lyndoch, The Laird Vineyard in the sub-region of Marananga and the Greenock Keller Vineyard owned by the Schultz family, are all now under the custodianship of Torbreck.

Torbreck Shiraz The Struie, Barossa Valley, Australia

The Eden Valley, the cooler region to the east of the Barossa Valley, consists of river valleys and undulating hills covered with large gums, rocky outcrops and Aboriginal heritage sites.

It is a high-altitude area of between 400 and 500 metres, compared with the Barossa Valley’s elevation of 200 to 300 metres. This higher altitude and 1 to 2 weeks later ripening pattern results in more distinctive varietal flavour characteristics, lower pH and higher acidities.

While the Eden Valley region is most associated with the white wine variety, Riesling, it also produces elegant, tautly structured Shiraz which is highly prized by winemakers.

This Torbreck Shiraz cuvée is a skilful blend of fruit from a 40 year old Eden Valley Shiraz vineyard and an 80 year old Barossa Shiraz vineyard – a marriage of elegance and intensity.

Torbreck is the name of a forest near Inverness, Scotland. You’ll find more than a passing nod to the Celts in our wine naming conventions including Struie, which is a 157 metre high mountain in the rugged highlands of north-east Scotland. The view from the Struie down across the Dornoch Firth is as inspiring as that of the Valley floor from Eden Valley.

 

Vintage 2020

Strong winds at flowering at the beginning of the growing season reduced berry and bunch count in many vineyards. The difficult seasonal conditions continued up to harvest: a dry winter and spring were followed by very hot and dry December and January. 2020 was a difficult season to manage for both grower and winemaker with yields much lower than anticipated. Older vineyards with deeper roots remained steadfast under these conditions and produced small volumes of deeply concentrated wines from the lower yields. While the yields have been small, the overall quality has created deeply coloured and textured wines that resonate their place of origin.

Grape Variety: 100% Shiraz
Vineyards: Barossa Valley and Eden Valley, average age of vines, 50 years
Sub-Regions: 80% Barossa Valley 20% Eden Valley
Harvest: 3rd March – 2nd April 2020
Maturation: 20 months in new (20%) and seasoned French oak
Analysis: Alc/Vol 15% pH 3.56 Acidity 5.84g/L

Tasting: Very firm and young with overt lifted black and blue fruits such as blackberry, blueberry compote and milk chocolate, with graphite and mineral like complexity from granite and schist soils in the Eden Valley. The full bodied and silken textured mouthfeel exhibits plushness of fruit along with mouth coating ripe Shiraz tannins that are full yet soft. The oak is barely noticeable and will give way after a year or two in bottle to its density and freshness of fruit. Serve with steak frittes, Texas bbq ribs, or char sui pork. Enjoy from release, but better from 2024-2035
Cellar: Up to 20 years and serve at 16C

Source: https://torbreck.com/products/the-struie