Very dendse with Blackberry, raspberry, liquorice, acebo flower and the honey and apricot notes from the Voignier. Full bodied and good texture, mature assembled tanins. Expresive long finish of more than 1 minute.
What the critics say...
Robert Parker: 96 points(01/10/2004)
There are 1,000 cases of the 2002 Descendant, a blend of 92% Shiraz and 8% Viognier that spent 18 months in 2-year-old French oak. The fruit is sourced from the section of the Barossa Valley known as Marananga. The Viognier and Shiraz are co-fermented together, and the name, Descendant, comes the fact that it is essentially the same blend as the famed Run Rig, but sees no new oak. A magnificent effort, the dense ruby/purple-colored 2002 Descendant offers gorgeous aromas of crushed blackberries, raspberries, licorice, acacia flowers, and the added notes of honeysuckle and apricots from the Viognier. Full-bodied and opulently textured, with good tannin, structure, purity, and a broad, expansive finish that lasts nearly a minute, it needs 1-2 years of cellaring, and should keep for 12-15+.
Pairing: Beef, Game Animals, Grilled Red Meats, Roasts, Stews.
The Torbreck’s history started in 1994 in a small village of the subregión of Marananga, in Barossa Valley. This is a history that goes beyond the yearning by producing wine of quality. It illustrates that the vision and the enthusiasm of a person can feed an unique relation between the... inheritance of a region and its old vineyards. At the beginning of the 90’s, the idea of David Powell began to take form. Although grieved by the vision of sponsorship on the part of the government to dig out the old vines, David was firmly convinced that a public for old Rhone type vineyards wine existed. That’s why his reaction was to approach local owners, asking tthem to trust him and give their properties which were very close to disapear. He then looked very well after these old vineyards (between 80 and 120 years of age) and was rewarded with the fruit of some small plots and did his first vintage. He established contracts for the use of these vineyards and thus the old way of shared cultivation returned in the valley. They then provided to Torbreck the regular supply of the better vineyards of Shiraz, Garnacha and Mourvedre, that contain some of the oldest vines in the world. Subsequently, 30 acres were acquired for Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier and Shiraz, as well as a vineyard of 100 years that had previously been cultivated. In 1995, three tons of grapes were pressed in a shed of its farm of 12 Has. of Marananga and then fermented to give rise to the first vintage of ´Torbreck´, name that has its origin in a forest of Scotland where Powell worked once as the woodcutter. In 1999 two more old vineyards were bought and they were added at the shared system, having access at the same time at more than 250 acres of first class vineyards in Barossa. The objective of David Powell is to maintain the best balance among voluptuous and mature fruit with a subtle use of the oak.
