Every now and then, in life and in wine, we are presented with unique opportunities to express ourselves and create something truly remarkable. When these rare opportunities arise, we need to capture, nurture and develop them so that their potential is fulfilled. So when I was given the opportunity to work with one of the most famous vineyards in the Barossa Valley, I was determined to use all my experience to ensure the resulting wine was truly remarkable.
The Vineyard Every great wine in the world has its roots buried in the terroir of a breathtaking vineyard, and the Laird is no exception. Owned by the legendary Malcolm Seppelt, fruit for the Laird comes from the Gnadenfrei vineyard, nestled on a gentle south facing slope on the eastern side of a ridge separating the Seppeltsfield and Marananga appellations in the Barossa Valley. Bearing the ‘Seppelt’ family name, Malcolm has his roots in this area buried as deep as the old vines on his property. Planted in 1958, the 5 acres of Shiraz is embedded in very dark heavy clay loam over red friable clay. The vineyard is meticulously hand tended, un-irrigated and littered with the footprints of Malcolm himself. The resulting small, concentrated Shiraz berries produced consistently on the property make it the envy of all winemakers in the valley.
The Barrels The oak selected for the maturation of this wine is considered to be some of the finest barriques in the world - Dominique Laurent’s ‘Magic Casks’. Dominique Laurent is an extraordinary individual and a truly great winemaker in his own right. He was so frustrated by the sales-driven and mass-production methods of the larger cooperages in France that he decided to make his own barrels. He left nothing to chance when developing his cooperage, selecting a site that was very high in wind and rain on the côte at the edge of La Forêt de Citeaux. The coopers he selected to craft his barrels had deep ties to artisanal barrel production, proud and driven by traditional techniques. The oak was personally harvested from Forêt de Tronçais in Allier and more specifically from the original area of this forest that was known to produce the finest oak. The oak trunks were split by hand and then again hand split into staves, producing staves that are almost twice as thick as traditional machine split staves. These were then aged for 48 to 54 months at a location that is already more exposed and weathered than the average maturation site. After this aging, the staves were hand-made into barrels. As part of this process, they were heated over three differing flames for several hours. This again is much longer than the standard process; however it does not result in a heavy toast because of the remarkable density of the wood.
The Winemaking Malcolm Seppelts’ vineyard is hand picked in two separate parcels a few days apart depending on vintage conditions. It is immediately taken to the winery where the fruit is gently de-stemmed into wooden & concrete open top fermenters. It is then carefully nurtured for 6-7 days on skins with pumpovers occurring twice daily, varying in duration and intensity. When primary fermentation is almost complete, the wine is drained from the skins and the must is gently basket pressed for 8 hours. The wine remains in a stainless steel tank until primary fermentation is completed. It is then run directly into new French barriques coopered by Dominique Laurent where they spend 36 months in their own temperature controlled ancient stone shed. Once the oak and the wine have melded perfectly the wine is blended and bottled without the use of filtration or fining. The Laird is a wine born from perfectionists following the highest possible standards.
What the critics say...
Robert Parker: 100 points(01/12/2010)
The Laird is Powell’s new baby, coming from a single 5 acre / 2 hectare vineyard of Shiraz in the Marananga sub-region planted in the 1960s that recently became available for contracting. This is a very different wine from Run Rig. What is most striking about it is the combination of power and elegance in this first vintage, coming from a very good year in the Barossa. Matured for 3 years in new Dominique Laurent “Magic Casks” (Troncais French oak barriques with thicker staves designed for the long aging of Shiraz), 2005 The Laird gives a deep garnet color and pronounced nose that shows savory and spice notes over the fruit, with aromas of hung meat, Peking duck, fertile loam, underbrush, tree bark, anise, cumin seed, menthol, dried roses and lavender over warm black cherries, crush blackberries and fruit cake. The tight-knit, full-bodied palate is very fine with a high level of silt-like tannins and crisp acid running through the concentrated fruit and savory flavors, finishing very long with lingering earth and spice notes. At 14.8% declared alcohol, this is by no means one of the biggest wines in the Barossa, but it is most certainly one of the best. It’s an absolute joy to drink now but it is recommended readers give it 4-5 years more in bottle to soften and marry and enjoy it to 2030+.
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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