2019 didn’t give any great dividends, but it usually pays off well for the quality. Thus also in this case. The wines were impressively dense and concentrated. The grapes come primarily from the sub-regions of Gomersal and Maranaga in the Barossa, but also with contributions from Ebenezer and Krondorf.
Deep, dark and opaque with a purple core. Absolutely wild aroma of ripe blackberries, plums and chocolate, black coffee, spices and forest floor. Decadently full and dense with huge amounts of ripe blackberries, licorice, plums, liqueur and dark chocolate. The cask aging gives eminent notes of vanillin, mocha and spices. Soft, but still with a certain tannic bite. Absolutely exceptional wine with a long, long, long and luxurious aftertaste.
Aged in French oak barriques for 24 months, 40% of which were new.
97 POINTS
James Suckling
Incredible black ink, blackberry, lead pencil and granite aromas. Hints of spearmint. Bark and mushroom, too. Deep and dark with superb depth and intensity. Tight at the end but then it opens and shows a weightless sensibility. Has vineyards back to the 1900s.
96 POINTS
Robert Parker
Reviewed by Erin Larkin
This is quintessential Barossa. The red dirt in the ground rises up in the glass and transports me right back there: middle summer, hot, spicy air blowing across the tops of old vines. It’s evocative. This 2019 The Factor is Port-y, concentrated and savory as all hell, with charred barrels, lamb fat, black pepper, salted licorice, pomegranate molasses and aniseed. This is about as big as I can cope with and still enjoy it; it takes density and intensity to a whole new level—no surprise for the vintage, the region and the producer. A perfect storm of thunderous strength. Like staring into the abyss. . . a little bit scary, but transfixing nonetheless.
92 POINTS
Wine Enthusiast
Reviewed by Christina Pickard
Plush heady notes of plum, currant and licorice open this powerful and polished Shiraz. There’re also hefty helpings of savory, peppery spice. The palate is cinched by massive, drying, spicy tannins amid the silky fruit. A plate of protein is a requirement if drinking now, but this really needs a few years—from 2035 onwards—in the cellar before opening to soften those tannins. Then it could age gracefully for a decade beyond that.
About Torbreck Vintners
Torbreck – world-class Australian wines. Torbreck was founded in 1994 by David Powell, who bought a vineyard in Maranaga. This became the foundation not only for the wine house Torbreck, but also for the man behind it, a “larger than life” personality who helped create a number of epoch-making wines, which, among other things, at one point earned him the title of Winemaker of the Year in The Wine Advocate. Physically, Torbreck can only be described as a very minimalist wine house – it consists, in short, of something that could look like a sheep shed, two cement tanks and a primitive pump.
The name Torbreck, like many of the house’s wine names, is of Scottish origin and should be seen as a tribute to the country where David Powell previously worked. Thus, e.g. Woodcutter’s is named after the Scottish woodcutters, while the house’s flagship, Run Rig, is named after the popular Scottish band.
Torbreck’s wine style is a beautiful union of the classic Barossa wine and the best from France’s Rhône Valley. Nuanced, soft wines with an almost creamy structure that already seduce at first taste. Parker actually also calls the house’s Run Rig “La Mouline of Australia”, by which he alludes to the single vineyard cuvée from Guigal’s Hermitage, which has both sky-high prices and points.
Prestigious winery
However, due to a hard divorce, David had financial problems, so in 2002 he had to sell the winery to Jack Cowin, who in 2008 chose to sell it on to the American investor, Pete Kight. In 2013, however, David chose to leave the winery, after which his assistant winemaker Craig Isabel took over the management.
However, the resales and David’s farewell to Torbreck have in no way harmed either the winery’s wines or reputation. Torbreck still belongs to the absolute elite, and the house’s prestige wine, the Laird, is sold at prices matched only by Three Rivers, Penfolds Grange and Henschke’s Hill of Grace. However, this does not mean that wines are not made at a more affordable price range – here, for example, GMS, Juveniles and Woodcutter’s excellent representatives of the house’s style.
