Winemaker Notes
Wonderfully lifted aromatics, perfumed fresh black and blue fruits with an underlying layer of star anise, clove and spice. Dense, dark cherry and blueberry fruit interwoven with subtle nuances of allspice and cinnamon. Full-bodied with great concentration, yet retaining firm yet supple tannin. This suave wine has impeccable balance.
Blend: 93% Shiraz, 7% Viognier
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Terrific intensity and depth with blackberry, blueberry, black ink, graphite and umami. Pencil shavings. Full and very fine with depth and richness. Co-fermented with 8% viogner. This is a wine that seduces you with its aromas and complexity. You just want to smell it. Give it three to four years to open. Try after 2025.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2019 followed the warm (but excellent) 2018 in the Barossa, and was marred by low yields and very concentrated fruit. 2020 was another step further down that low-yielding, dry track, completing a trio of concentrated, brooding vintages that are, as the years go by, harder and harder to get ahold of. So, the 2019 Descendant includes Viognier skins in the ferment, usually around 2%, and the fruit is sourced from vines planted from cuttings from the RunRig Vineyard. A baby Runrig, if you will. So, this is silky, slippery, tannic and intense, with layers of vibrant raspberry, jasmine tea, red licorice, jelly snakes and deli meat. As usual for the Torbreck reds, the texture of the wine is velvety, plush, intense and enveloping. This ages very well, we know it does, but if you must drink it early, decant it!
Rating: 97+ -
Wine Enthusiast
The mini-me of Torbreck's renowned Runrig, Descendant sees some Viognier skins. It's a perfumed and powerful wine, with aromas of raspberry tart, blueberry preserves, violet, cracked pepper and beetroot and a good lick of chocolaty, toasty oak. The rich yet sculpted palate is gripped by muscular tannins. It'll soften with time and should age quite gracefully, but for now it's still very young. Best After 2024
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Wine Spectator
Fleshy tannins set the stage for rich, dense flavors, but this wine is outstanding for its aromatics as well. Presents palo santo, Asian five-spice, espresso crema, wild blackberry, lapsang souchong black tea and salted toffee, along with a whiff of fresh violet. Gorgeous in its persistence on the long, expressive finish. Shiraz and Viognier.
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.