Torbreck 2018 The Steading

£21.40
Tasting notes
Dark fruits, cherry, blackberry and peppery spices with silky tannins; full and complex. Very much a food wine to partner rich and full-bodied dishes.

Why we recommend this wine
Wines from the Barossa Valley are the iconic full-bodied, powerful wines from Australia and this is no exception; an excellent example from a great producer.

The wine
It is a blend of Grenache (66%), Shiraz (13%) & Mataro (21%) (or Mourvèdre as it is more commonly called elsewhere). The purity of fruit, mid palate concentration and tannin profile make this an exemplary wine. 
Each of the individual blocks of vines (many picked at different stages to ensure perfectly ripened fruit) were de-stemmed separately into both wooden & concrete open top fermenters where the juice was gently pumped over the skins twice a day for 6-7 days. After basket pressing the wine was racked from tank into older French Hogsheads where natural malo-lactic conversion occured. Following 24 months maturation on fine yeast lees the wine was assembled and bottled in June 2014 without the use of fining or filtration (in other words there is going to be sediment).

The wine estate
Torbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in the early 1990’s when he began to discover and clean up a few sections of dry-grown old vines. Near lifeless, he nurtured them back to health and was rewarded with small parcels of fruit that he made into wine. David was able to secure a contract for the supply of grapes from a run-down but ancient Shiraz vineyard. He managed to raise enough money to share-farm the vineyard, a practice which involves paying the owner a percentage of the market rate for his grapes in return for totally managing the vineyard. This share-farming principle has enabled Torbreck to use fruit from the very best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, which is home to some of the most precious old vines in the world. In 2008 Torbreck Vintners was acquired by Pete Kight who is committed to ensuring the ongoing excellence of Torbreck wines
torbreck.com

Food and wine
Rich and powerful wines need equally rich and powerful dishes so that neither the food nor the wine is over dominant. Has the strength to accompany curries. Also see our guide to pairing food and wine here.

Did you know?
In 2009, the Barossa Old Vine Charter was instituted to register vineyards by age, so that older vines could be preserved, retained and promoted. Vines are registered when they hit 35 years old. The oldest category is the Barossa Ancestor Vine for vines equal to or greater than 125 years old.