Torbreck The Factor Shiraz 2013
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Wine Enthusiast
Full-bodied and plush yet vibrant and imbued with fresh fruit, this is simply superb. The oak is present but never dominant, adding brown sugar and cinnamon elements to blueberry, roasted meat, espresso and black olive notes. A hint of peppery spice also creeps into this impossibly complex wine. The finish combines power, length, freshness and dusty tannins, suggesting that while impressive now, it should age well. Drink now–2030. Editor's Choice
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James Suckling
A very tarry rendition of bold Barossa shiraz matured in older oak, this trades on the innate depth and power of what is captured in the vineyard. It's a wine that always excels for its ability to meld complexity with focus and purity. Fruit aromas run a broad gamut from redder raspberries to blue fruits and into blackberries. There's a deeply savory, tarry, coal and even dusty edge, too. The palate has fine and silky tannins that roll in playfully with deceptive weight, depth and power behind them. Essence-like blackberries, plums and caramelised espresso flavors all intermingle in layered formation, while velvety, ripe tannins are saturated in deeply ripe flavors. This is a profoundly beautiful and stylish wine. Drink now and for 10+ years.
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Wine Spectator
Intense, with an oozing core of blackberry and wild blueberry flavors, accented by black walnut, espresso, cinnamon and black tea notes. Rich and velvety, focused and seamless, this ends on the elegant side, with a long finish. Shiraz. Drink now through 2026.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Very deep purple colored, the 2013 The Factor is intensely scented of crème de cassis, baked plums and blueberry pie with hints of licorice, dark chocolate and violets plus a whiff of balsamic. Very big, full and rich in the mouth, it explodes with baked black berries flavors, framed with rounded tannins and finishing with great persistence.
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Wine & Spirits
A finely textured 2013, this wine’s blue-black fruit has wholesome freshness to its clean, fragrant length. There’s some matchstick-flinty reduction to capture and hold all the juice. It’s solidly built to age.
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Torbreck, founded in 1994 by David Powell, is situated at Marananga on the western ridge of the Barossa. Since that time he has produced some of the world's finest 'Rhone varietal' wines, exclusively from Barossa fruit; this has been acknowledged by the wine press in Europe, America and Australia. The overwhelming majority of his vines are dry-grown, nearly all are 80 - 125 years old and are tended and harvested by hand.
The wines have an extraordinary combination of power, intesity, complexity and great finesse, and bearing in mind the age of the vines and the laughably low yields, no Torbreck wine could ever be accused of being heavy, cloying or over-extracted.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.