Torbreck Vintners from 1994 in Barossa Valley applies tradition to wines from some of the world's oldest vines
Barossa Valley's Torbreck Vintners winemaker Ian Hongell worked some of the world's oldest vines in the valley to produce wines such asits RunRig shiraz with a dash of viognier, Torbreck produced The Forebear shiraz (inset) from the tiny Hillside vineyard, 12 rows of vines on a one-acre plot, planted by Samuel Springbett and his sons in about 1850.
Torbreck Vintners became one of Barossa Valley’s newest wineries, opening in 1994, but drawing on some of the oldest wines on Earth.
Spread across the 20 kilometres north-south ridge on the Barossa Valley western edge, Torbeck invested in five of the Barossa’s most precious vineyards – many classified as old vines (older than 35 years) and some well beyond 100 years, after accepting fruit from them from its start. These included the historic Hillside vineyard at Lyndoch, The Laird vineyard in the subregion of Marananga, the Keller Vineyard, owned by the Schultz family, in Greenock and the Daylight Chamber vineyard in Gomersal along with Torbeck’s Descendant Vineyard in Marananga.
Named after a forest just south of Inverness in the Scottish highlands, Torbreck was founded by David Powell, who worked as a lumberjack after completing university studies and honing his oenological skills at various vineyards. Torbreck’s first 1997 releases of 1995 Runrig shiraz/viognier and 1996 The Steading grenache/mataro/shiraz had acclaimed debuts.
In 2002, Torbreck bought the tiny Hillside Vineyard, just 12 rows of vines on a one-acre plot, planted by Samuel Springbett and his sons in about 1850. One of the sons, John, with Samuel Potter, discovered alluvial gold in 1868 along with Para River, setting off a Barossa Valley gold rush. John Springbett and his brother Edward, reportedly the district’s wealthiest prospectors, built a winery built in 1860 and cellars in 1890 at Hillside. These were all extensively rejuvenated by the team at Torbreck Vintners with new vineyard blocks planted with heritage clone material.
Torbreck worked with some of the oldest bush vines in the world for its RunRig shiraz with a dash of viognier. The 2018 was an assemblage of six specific Barossa Valley vineyards: Lyndoch, Rowland Flat, Moppa, Ebenezer, Light Pass and Greenock. The Torbreck 2010 RunRig achieved a score of 100 points in The Wine Advocate in the United States of America. Winemaker Ian Hongell said the RunRig was a link to the history of some of the oldest working vines in the world.
After more than a decade of input, Torbreck released The Forebear shiraz from the Hillside single vineyard on a limited release at the same price point as the winery’s flagship, The Laird, and slightly less than Penfolds Grange.
In 2008, Torbreck cemented its long-term commitment to the Barossa Valley with a winery and bottling line, enabling achieve maximum quality through 100% estate control form vien to packaging. That year Torbreck Vinters was bought by Peter Kight, who made billions from his electronic payments company Checkfree. He already had the Quivira winery in California. The split with founder Dave Powell was acrimonious with the latter’s personal spending at the crux of their dispute.
Kight told The Advertiser in Adelaide that “with the purchase of The Laird vineyard and Hillside, I believe we own two of the greatest vineyards in the world – clearly two of the greatest vineyards in Australia …We get characteristics in our grapes that you just don’t get anywhere else in the world.’’ Kight also believed that “Torbreck has done really well from the beginning (by) applying tried and true classic French winemaking techniques; not trying to make French wine but learning from the oldest winemakers on earth and applying it to the oldest vines in the oldest soil on Earth.”
In 2017, Torbreck expanded its original settlers cottage cellar door to become an international guest centre.
