In 2019, the inaugural vintage of this already legendary wine suffered some fruit loss due to frost and drought. In 2020, there was an abundance of moisture, but this time, the wind at flowering reduced crop weights significantly. In point of fact, they were 65% down! Nothing is easy in the pursuit of perfection, but this wine appears to know where it’s going despite the myriad challenges. Of course, the vineyard is all-important here, and this micro-production gets kid-glove treatment. It matters not that tiny quantities are made because this is a wine that will only ever appeal to those obsessives who cannot live without tasting the magnificent flavour found here. One such person had the confidence to walk over to our table during our tasting, announcing himself as a serious collector. And he was. Imagine the chances. Ian gave him a taste of this wine, making him the only punter on earth to see a sneak preview. Take it from me: this chap had his mind well and truly blown. I imagine he is still grinning a month or so later! This wine is layered and expert; it requires a safecracker (David Niven, not one of these modern types) to twirl the tumblers and expose the skeletons because this asteroid of a wine takes ‘second album syndrome’ and eviscerates it with another perfect performance. This time, it’s a wine that can be appreciated within five years, which is always cause for applause.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Laird 2020
I often find The Laird too much of an enigma to honestly admit to understanding its game. In 2020, it is a more approachable wine to comprehend, and it also seems more convivial. While this is an awesomely balanced, large-framed wine with surprising refinement, given its scale, it has a wonderfully gregarious soul. Where once, this was a standoffish, almost pugnacious wine, in 2020, this is one of the most welcoming and open-armed The Laird of all
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
RunRig 2022
It seems improbable that RunRig should warrant a slightly lower score than Descendant, but I am only reporting what I tasted on the 28th of April 2025 at Clarette in London. Descendant took to the stage with no hesitation, while RunRig was a tight ball of introspection. What I admire most about this wine is that it simply doesn’t care what is happening around it. It didn’t feel under any pressure to perform, and it didn’t. While the other wines strive to win everyone over, 2022 RunRig remains completely nonplussed, supremely confident in its abilities and in no rush to reveal its class. Of course, there is amazing potential here, and it is on the train, biding its time. But when will it decide to get off the locomotive and get busy? I just cannot tell you the answer to this question, but it won’t be this year or the next, and probably not the one after that, either. Stay tuned.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
Les Amis 2022
While I have always admired Les Amis, it has never hit the high notes in my reviews, preferring the elegance, openness and immediacy of Hillside. While Les Amis has always packed a punch, it has often felt a little ponderous and heavy-handed. All this has changed in 2022. This is a mobile, swirling, dynamic wine with a superbly suave onslaught of fruit, accompanied by gorgeous spice and earthiness. This is a toned, rippling Les Amis and its bass amp throbs away while Transylvanian hearth notes spread moments of fear and reverence. There is a decent slug of whole bunch action (around 20%), and with Stockinger oak employed, the finest carpentry caress is guaranteed. This is a more open and conversational Les Amis, and I am thrilled to say that it still possesses a hint of malevolence throughout, which keeps the pulse ticking over!
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Factor 2022
The Factor is a sensationally complex wine in 2022, and this time, microscopic ball bearings of spectacular flavour pin-ball around the palate, gathering glorious flavour-static and releasing it asunder. This is a thrillingly energetic wine, pulsing with tension, electricity, and profoundly attractive Shiraz fruit notes. There are few young wines as handsome and polished as The Factor, and this is one of the most forward and immediately impressive releases in memory.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
Descendant 2022
I have long held a candle for Descendant, as this wine is often my top of the pops. I usually approach new vintages with a mix of trepidation, anticipation, and wonder. I need not worry, as the perfume is nothing short of angelic. 8% Viognier seems to add more sexiness and tantalising eroticism than usual, and there is a sense of glamorous weightlessness on the mid-palate that makes the sheer volume of flavour seem all the more improbable. The fruit glides across the palate, aerial, enchanting, and blackcurrant-soaked, and while this is a stunningly intense wine, there is not one iota of excess flesh. We all know that Descendant is a direct relative of RunRig, but generations evolve and always do something different and amazing. In 2022, this Descendant is a soaring triumph.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Gask 2023
Where on earth has this wine come from? There is an answer! It comes from a single plot on the eastern flank of Mount McKenzie, and it is lovingly tended by the Hearnden family! Sixty-three years old in 2023, this wine is an outlier in the Torbreck portfolio because it is more of an anti-fruit missile than a Shiraz-soaked diva. It is macho, bitter, unyielding, verging on masochistic and utterly drop-to-your-knees gorgeous. The liquorice, smoke, crushed blueberries and sour rhubarb highlights skirt around a vault of cold, dark earth, and the core is unyielding and awesome! It sits in tame one-year-old oak that dares not converse with its contents for fear of all-out war! The oak is merely a convenient container for this warrior-like liquid to gather its thoughts before it breaks free and is then cunningly coaxed into the bottle. The iron spine is all but visible through the glass, keeping this wine stiff, upright, proud, and powerful in the bottle. And when it is poured, stand back. This is easily the most brocaded and resplendent The Gask of all time, with ravishing raw silk texture and dark chocolate cake dust coating. I am in awe of this wine in the glass, and there is every chance it will snatch another half-point from my fist to add to its towering 19 if I look away even for the briefest moment
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Hillside Vineyard Grenache 2022
I have been a fan of Hillside Grenache since the very first 2016 vintage release, and this crystalline offering shows yet another beguiling facet of its character. It is, initially, improbably bright and yummy on the nose, with rose petal freshness invading the senses. Iced Italian cherries storm on the palate, making this an evocative wine with a hypnotic stance. And then even more romantic notes start tumbling into view – crunchy stems, peonies, immortelle, and tobacco leaves cavort; this is a fantastic wine, and while it is pure, sonorous, and drinking nicely already, it has enough grip to evolve for the next five years with ease.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Struie 2023
The 43% Eden fruit in this wine is blacker than a century-old inkwell, and while it is not the dominant portion of this Eden/Barossa amalgam, but by God it makes itself heard in this wine. I love the way that as every year passes, individual wines, presumably because of an infinite number of decisions going their way, end up playing themselves into legendary contention. It is impossible to predict which label will take the top spot on the podium, and it is not always the rock star wine with the fattest prices that comes away with the biggest praise. In the challenging 2023 vintage, The Struie has, and I have whispered His name in this piece before, the presence of a deity in the glass! It is clearly one of the greatest Torbreck wines of all time, and it is most definitely my favourite Struie. Bring value for money into the equation, and this wine is in contention for finest value, bang for the buck, and flavour for moolah Shiraz on Earth. The nose is a great big signpost saying, ‘this way’, and the palate is a hint lighter and gentler but altogether genial and balanced, like a philosopher with a good back catalogue of side-splitting one-liners. Experts will fall off their chairs while tasting this wine, while newcomers will feel spectacularly welcome. It’s a slice of eminently affordable luxury, and you’d be mad not to take advantage of it today.
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Steading 2023
Open and unfurled, this is an arrestingly attractive The Steading, and it is drinking right….NOW. While the Mourvèdre slice is spicier than usual, with a nice gritty traction that keeps the louche Grenache from slip-sliding away, the overall stance on the palate of this crowd-pleaser is of an unabashed performer, yearning to be poured and adored. Keep the mighty 2022 in your cellar and allow this loveable rogue to leapfrog it today!
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Matthew Jukes MATTHEWJUKES.COM
The Steading Blanc 2024
The only white in the lineup, this fabulous blend of Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier is terrific, with a rare degree of balance for a wine of this style. It sports the merest hint of new oak, which is used exclusively for the Viognier (2%) portion. In addition, the Marsanne is rewarded with second-fill oak, while the main body of the wine, the Roussanne (53%), retains its linear flanks and tension by remaining in stainless steel. The soil moisture from the wet 2023 vintage provided this wine with an early-season boost, and nature took care of the rest. The cool tones and impressive bounce of energy make this a wine that defies its recipe while retaining a thoroughly modern air. This is a fascinating RMV that does not require a main course dish to be anchored alongside it to find admirers. It is bright and edgy enough to be enjoyed before the menu has even been perused, which makes it both clever and delicious
