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]
Contents |
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]
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]