The 2005 Factor displays the concentration & fruit purity that only the most meticulous farming can achieve. Delicate scents of wild blackberries, pipe smoke and pepper are supported by a dark core of espresso roast, black currants and coal. The palate offers tremendous texture and combines great richness with subtle notes of olive tapenade, saddle leather and minerals. Brooding and densely packed, this majestic wine has the constitution to cellar for many years where it will slowly unravel its extravagant riches.
What the critics say...
Robert Parker: 97 points(01/10/2007)
The 2005 The Factor is 100% Shiraz sourced from dry grown vines from six sub-regions of Barossa. It spent 24 months in 30% new French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it delivers an expressive bouquet of pepper, smoke, espresso roast, blackberry, blueberry, and licorice. Full-bodied and voluptuous on the palate, nuances of saddle leather and mineral emerge to complement the layers of spicy blue and black fruits. The wine is beautifully integrated with enough well-concealed tannin to keep this wine evolving for a decade. The pure finish lingers for 60+ seconds to complete the experience of a totally hedonistic turn-on.
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.
