Winemaker Notes
Possessing a dense, saturated, almost ink like hue, the aromas of black raspberries, crème de cassis, smoke, graphite and melted tar soar from the glass. Full bodied with great intensity, amazing freshness and extraordinary concentration, the multi-layered palate displays the fruit purity that only the most fastidious farming can achieve. Hints of homemade marmalade, scorched earth and slow roasted meats later emerge with time in the glass.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Torbreck’s flagship is the 2005 Run Rig, a 97% Shiraz cuvee sourced from 120- to 160-year-old vines with 3% finished Viognier added before bottling. It spent 30 months in 60% new French oak. Opaque purple/black in color, it has a kinky, exotic bouquet of fresh road tar, smoke, lavender, black pepper, game, blueberry, and black raspberry. Full-bodied and opulent on the palate, the wine is dense, packed, and unevolved. It will continue to open up over the next 10-12 years and drink well through 2040 in the style of a Chapoutier Hermitage. If it develops as I think it will, it will be a candidate for perfection down the road.
Rating: 98+ -
Wine Spectator
Firm, focused, highly aromatic and packed with flavor, offering floral accents to the dense blackberry, cherry and mineral flavors that linger on the refined finish, where the grip needs cellaring to loosen. Shiraz and Viognier. Best from 2011 through 2017. 1,200 cases made.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2005 vintage in Barossa was very good and remarkably unremarkable in that nothing went wrong—the wines produced have proven to be lovely, and it breaks the rhythm of the even vintages being the superstars. The 2005 RunRig echoes some of the characters of the 2003 vintage, with plum pudding, date, dark chocolate and roasted meat. The finish is powerful. It closes strong, showing the wine has a long future ahead of it. 14.5% alcohol.
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.