The 2006 RunRig is elaborated with 97% Shiraz and 3% Viognier.
Tasting note: A dense, saturated, almost ink like hue. Aromas: Black raspberries,crème de cassis, smoke, graphite and melted tar soar from the glass. Palate: 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. Although extremely intense, the wines power is cloaked within its balance and concentration, The 2006 RunRig will greatly reward those with patience.
FERMENTATION: Each of the eight parcels of fruit were gently de-stemmed into both wooden & concrete open top fermenters where they were carefully nurtured for 6-7 days on skins. After basket pressing the wine was run directly into both new and old French barriques where they spent 30 months with minimal racking. During the final ‘assemblage’ a small addition (3%) of estate grown Viognier was added and the wine was later bottled without the use of filtration or fining.
What the critics say...
Robert Parker: 96 points(01/12/2009)
The flagship 2006 Run Rig is a blend of 95% Shiraz and 5% Viognier. A saturated purple color, it sends up a complex bouquet of cigar box, Asian spices, incense, bacon, plum, and blueberry. On the palate it admirably combines power and elegance. Layers of succulent fruit are nicely complemented by the wine’s generous framework. Another 4-6 years of cellaring should fill it out with style.
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.
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