Torbreck
Torbreck is a leading wine producer in the Barossa Valley region of Australia, specializing in Shiraz. It is particularly known for its powerful and aromatic flagship RunRig Shiraz (made from 120-160-year-old vines with a dash of Viognier), and The Laird, a single vineyard Shiraz that is one of the most expensive wines made in Australia. However, Torbreck makes around 15 wines in all, and the portfolio is based around Rhône varieties like Grenache, Mourvedre, Viognier, Marsanne and Roussanne.
The estate was founded by David Powell in 1994 with grapes initially obtained on a sharecropping basis. The name comes from a forest in Scotland where he once worked as a lumberjack, and many of the wines also have Scottish-themed names. Torbreck has developed its own vineyard holdings but much of its fruit is still sourced from selected growers throughout the Barossa Valley.
The second vintage (1996) of the Runrig Shiraz garnered strong reviews in The Wine Advocate, leading to intense international interest. Since then there have been consistent annual ratings of 95-99 points in The Wine Advocate and Torbreck has been named as one of the World's Top 100 Wine Estates by Robert Parker.
The Laird was first made in 2005; intense small-berry Shiraz is sourced from Malcolm Seppelt's prestigious 5-hectare (12-acre) Gnadenfrei vineyard. The wine made is aged for three years in thick-staved French oak barrels. The inaugural vintage and the 2008 both received 100-point scores from Lisa Perotti-Brown in The Wine Advocate.
The chief winemaker is Ian Hongell, one of the region's most respected figures, who previously held the equivalent position at Peter Lehmann Wines.