Torbreck
Coordinates: 34°28′33.9″S 138°56′50.9″E / 34.476083°S 138.947472°E
Torbreck Vintners is an Australian winery in the Barossa Valley, founded by David Powell in 1994.[1][2] The winery is named after a forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack.[3] The wines are made in a style emulating those of the Rhone Valley[4] and are made from various grapes including red grapes Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro as well as white grapes Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne.[5]
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[edit] History
While working for Rockford in 1992, Powell discovered a number of neglected vineyards with old vines and worked to bring them back to good health and buy fruit from them for the production of his own wine.[1][2][6]
The first wine was made under the Torbreck label during the 1995 vintage, with the finished wines released in 1997.[3][7]
In late 2002 the estate was placed into receivership due to financial pressures on Powell from a divorce settlement.[8] Torbreck was purchased by Australian businessman Jack Cowin from receivers for 6.5 million Australian dollars,[9] with Powell retained as winemaker and managing director.[10][11] In 2008 Powell reacquired the estate for 25.3 million Australian dollars, in partnership with Peter Kight, the owner of Quivira Winery in California.[9][12][13]
[edit] Wines
Torbreck produces around 70,000 cases of wine per year, depending on vintage conditions.[3][9] The majority of the production is red wine, but there is around 10% of white wine made as well.[2]
The "RunRig" is Torbreck's flagship wine, produced from 120 to 160 year old Shiraz vines and a small amount of Viognier.[14][15] RunRig was included in the 4th edition of Langton's Classification of Australian Wine at the "Excellent" level[16] and was named one of Australia's 25 "benchmark" wines by Wine Spectator magazine.[7][17]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Torbreck Wines - History
- ^ a b c wineanorak.com - The New Barossa : Torbreck
- ^ a b c eRobertParker.com - In Asia: Torbreck’s David Powell
- ^ TheStar - Winning wines
- ^ Parker, Robert (2005). The World's Greatest Wine Estates. Simon & Schuster. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-7432-3771-0.
- ^ WAtoday - Old vines, great wines
- ^ a b Steiman, Harvey (2007). Wine Spectator October 2007. http://www.torbreck.com/Portals/0/Articles/Wine%20Spectator%20%20Australias%20Benchmarks%202007.pdf.
- ^ Johnson, Hugh (2003). Hugh Johnson's Wine Companion. Mitchell Beazley. p. 501. ISBN 1-84000-704-4.
- ^ a b c Daily Telegraph - Jack sells back Barossa Corker
- ^ WAtoday - Rich pickings
- ^ SMH - Caught gwoovin'
- ^ WineSpectator - Australia's Torbreck Back in David Powell's Hands
- ^ Torbreck Wines - Blog
- ^ Miller, Jay (2009). Robert Parker's Wine Advocate February 2009. http://www.torbreck.com/Portals/0/Articles/wineAdvocateFeb09.pdf.
- ^ WineSpectator - A Dab of Viognier
- ^ Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine
- ^ The Courier-Mail - Top 25 Australian Wines
