Winemaker Notes
The view from the Struie down across the Dornoch Firth is as inspiring as that of the Valley floor from the Barossa Ranges. This wine is a blend of Shiraz from the Eden and Barossa Valleys, combining the best of both regions.
The 2015 vintage clearly benefitted from some early summer rains which changed the course of the vintage. The fruit has wonderful freshness, good acidity, and perfect balance. The Eden Valley component has an almost unbelievable vibrancy and purity which balances the rich Valley fruit perfectly.
One of the most lifted and aromatic Struie wines Torbreck has produced, the harmonious combination of both regions have again delivered a wine with layers of dark cassis fruit characters and defining structure. Nuances of plum, black olive, lavender and plush cherry characters all further enhance the natural elegance and persistence of the fruit quality.
The 2015 Struie will certainly age gracefully well into the next decade.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Lots of soy, stone, iodine and oyster shell with blue and black fruits. Full to medium body, firm and silky tannins and a juicy and long finish. The quarter of Eden gives this complexity and length.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh-roasted coffee, chicory and cedar notes set the stage for robust flavors of plum and cherry, accented by clove, vanilla and cola details on the finish. The tannins are thick and velvety but never get in the way of the flavors. Shiraz. Drink now through 2029.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple colored, the 2015 The Struie has a very youthful crushed black berry and black currant nose with licorice, dark chocolate and tar suggestions. Full-bodied with a taut, muscular palate and solid backbone of chewy tannins, this is a sturdy, rugged style, which should mellow a bit with a few years in cellar.
Rating: 90+ -
Wine Enthusiast
Even with a few years of bottle age this is still a massive blockbuster wine that oozes blackberries, plums, black olives, chocolate, green savory spices and cola-like oak. Sinewy spicy tannins grip a gauzy layer of rich ripe fruit while toasty flashy oak seeps through the cracks. This needs more time for all that oak to settle into the wine and hopefully the fruit will continue going along for the ride. Drink 2021–2029.
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.