The Laird
2019 The Laird
The Laird (formerly Gnadenfrei) Vineyard was first planted in 1958 on a southwest facing slope in the tiny hamlet of Marananga in the Barossa Valley. Torbreck’s first harvest of Shiraz from this highly coveted plot came in 2005.
The Laird Vineyard
With a combination of red and black clays over an ironstone base intermingled with gravel and quartz, the red and black soils produce two distinctly different wines that complement each other when blended.
The Eastern block of red clay offers up power and intensity with robust black fruit and tannins due to higher sunlight hours and later harvesting. The setting sun shades the Western side of this single vineyard and the black cracking clays offer a more fragrant, elegant wine complemented by spice and earthy notes.
Winemaking
Handpicked in two separate parcels up to a few weeks apart depending on vintage conditions, the fruit is immediately transported to the winery to be gently de-stemmed into open top fermenters. It is then carefully nurtured for 6-7 days on skins with pump overs occurring twice daily, varying in duration and intensity. When primary fermentation is almost complete, the wine is drawn off 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 it spends 36 months in temperature-controlled conditions. Once the oak and the wine have melded perfectly, the wine is blended and bottled without the use of filtration or fining. Finally, it is matured in the bottle for a further 24 months before release.
Accolades
Only ten vintages of The Laird have been produced since the inaugural 2005 vintage.
Over this time, the wine has become a favourite of wine collectors the world over, and has been fortunate to have received the highest accolades from the international wine trade and media. This includes receiving a perfect 100 points three times from Robert Parker's 'The Wine Advocate' for the 2005, 2008 and 2012 vintages.
The 2019 Vintage
The growing season was defined by a continuously warm to hot summer with no effective rainfall, wind and hail at flowering, and followed with three major frosts - resulting in an earlier and much smaller harvest than average. These tough conditions produced smaller clusters of intensely dark berries with thick fleshy skins contrasted against brown mature stalks. Whilst yields were down, once these vineyards were fermenting in our cellar the concentration of colour, tannin and aroma of the 2019 vintage was revealed.
2019 The Laird
Tasting Notes
Deep crimson with aubergine core. Luxurious and alluring black and blue fruits such as satsuma plum, blackberry, black cherry and cassis fill the bouquet, complimented by savoury notes of, garrigue, tar, bay leaf, vanilla pod and sarsaparilla root. The wine has wonderful complexity and charm that excites the senses. Alluring spices such as cinnamon and liquorice meld further into the complexing amalgam of flavours. The palate possesses great fruit depth and a degree of elegance displaying wonderful harmony and posture with firm tight tannins holding the fruit and the structure together. Not for the faint hearted it’s a wine that needs time to offer its best. A wine that will live for generations.
Enjoy from 2026 and cellar to 2060+. Serve at 16C/60F with prime cuts, roast BBQ Pork or vintage cheddar.
Download The Laird 2019 Tasting Note
Purchase
$850 per 750ml bottle - limit 1 bottle
Contact Torbreck Cellar Door for large format purchasing, and shipping to international locations. Ph: +61 8 8568 8123 | E: theclan@torbreck.com
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