Winemaker Notes
Intense, perfumed fruits with an underlying layer of lavender and spice. Dense dark cherry and blueberry fruit is perfectly interwoven with subtle nuances of spice and cinnamon. Full-bodied with great concentration, yet retaining firm yet supple
tannin, this suave wine has impeccable balance. Descendant will reward you with its immediate charm and can be enjoyed upon release with just a few hours breathing, however, they recommend locking the other bottles away for 5+ years to enjoy its further potential, or better still cellaring for the next 15 years plus.
Blend: 92% Shiraz, 8% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
What a lush, charming, wonderfully drinkable wine. The 2018 Descendant, made by fermenting Shiraz on Viognier skins, is a terrific effort, starting from its intriguing spicy, peppery aromas. Those notes are seamlessly intertwined with impressively ripe fruit scents evocative of blueberries and cherries, while the full-bodied palate is plush, creamy and supple without being unstructured or overblown. Softly dusty tannins ground the finish, lending a sense of savory balance to this beauty. Descendent is one of my favorite Torbreck bottlings year after year, and this may be the best one yet.
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James Suckling
Shiraz co-fermented with 8% viognier, this has aromas of spiced blackberries and dark plums with chocolate notes, too. The palate has a round, silky feel with a mouthful of spicy dark-plum flavors, wrapped around long, even tannins. Impressive now, but even better in five years.
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Decanter
Heritage cuttings (and second-fill barriques) from Runrig lend pedigree to this single-vineyard co-fermented Shiraz and Viognier (8%) from Marananga. Younger vines (planted 1994) give flamboyant notes of soaring violets, luscious summer pudding fruit, cedar, anise, black pepper, stem ginger, apricot glaze and iron minerality. Silky milk chocolate texture, feathery tannins and cleansing acidity brings terrific finesse to the elegant finish. Bravo!
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Wine Spectator
Spicy and complex, with mocha, coriander, dried violet, clove and espresso overtones to the dense, succulent core of wild blackberry, dried blueberry and fig paste flavors on a muscular frame, with dense, toothsome tannins. Shiraz and Viognier. Drink now through 2036.
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Wine Enthusiast
This wine is open knit with ripe cherry and plum fruit and polished vanillin oak at the fore. There are quite pronounced herbs and spices here, too—eucalyptus, cracked pepper and bay leaf. The palate is silky with herbal tannins and a touch of heat from the alcohol. There's a bit of astringency on the finish, but overall this delivers class and age worthiness, capable of cellaring until around 2037.
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.