By Erin Larkin
RunRig 2022
98 Points
The 2022 RunRig had 2% Viognier added to the Syrah after barrel maturation, from the current vintage. I've clarified this with winemaker Ian Hongell, because my incorrect memory ran toward skins only. Glad I asked. Aromatically, the wine is so fresh and detailed; it hints at latent power and intense concentration, but it doesn't overbear on this point. On the palate, the wine has everything we could hope for—intense, balanced red fruit, a splay of ductile tannins and such a light fluffiness to the profile that I find it most appealing indeed. The discussion here today is regarding the comparison to the great 2021 vintage. It was a freak, out-of-the-box year that blessed producers with a spot-free growing season, good yields and excellent quality fruit. The wines, for the most part, will endure through the decades with grace and ease. The 2022s are tighter, fluffier, more fruit forward and, in my opinion, slightly more delicious, but over the long term, backing the 2021s to go the distance seems the blue-chip option. We can discuss this again in 20 years (2045) when that answer will have become more clear. In the words of Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast." I love this wine today. It's a superstar. 15.5% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.
The Forebear 2020
98 Points
he 2020 The Forebear is sourced from the oldest plantings in the Hillside Vineyard in Lyndoch—12 rows planted in the early 1850s. For this tasting, the wine has been open now for three hours, and yet it needs more in the way of oxygen than what it currently has. The wine remains aromatically closed, with notions of black fruit, exotic spice, charry oak and forest floor. This has peat, old leather, jarrah and black cherries in profusion. The palate is shaped by intense graphite tannins, which feel closely knit and exclusively the property of old vines; they are silty and settle in the mouth—if you need a visual—like watching a pint of Guinness settle in the glass. A monumental wine, it needs space and quiet to be able to absorb the layers of complexity and undulating waves of flavor through the finish
The Laird 2020
98 Points
The 2020 vintage was the third in a string of dry hot years, and this was marred by disastrously low yields, owing to heat and 80 kilometers per hour winds during the flowering. The 2020 The Laird is from the Gnadenfrei vineyard in Marananga, planted in 1958. The Marananga growing area is known for producing powerful, muscular, tannic Shiraz, and I tend to find the full-throated shout of flavor and concentration to be both convincing and a little exciting. The Laird does exactly this, holding back for no person and providing no subtlety nor mystique. Tasting it, one wonders if these things are strictly necessary anyway; here, we have unbridled power and intensity, old-vine tannic thrust and a black hole of impenetrable fruit, with notes of peat, leather, peppercorns, sweet roasted meat, pan juices and forest moss. It's an iconic wine that has retained its soul and purpose over the years, decisive, distinct, potent and precise, haunting and evocative. The dry-grown vineyard has been there longer than many of the people saying it can't be done. There's something in that
Descendant 2022
97 Points
The 2022 Descendant is a co-fermented blend of Shiraz and Viognier (8%), and the wine exudes masses of floral perfume, which translates accurately in the mouth. It is silky and intense; the tannins are ductile and pervasive, and yet they have a bloody, ferruginous note that makes their dispersion feel more like an infusion than a framework. It is chewy and weighty, without being heavy or swaggering. Awesome wine. Superb. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork.
The Factor 2022
96 Points
The 2022 The Factor is a celebration of old-vine vineyards in Barossa. Aromatically, this philosophy is clear as day in the wine. Barossa is stylistically adaptable and flexible, and at its best, it's able to convey a sense of meatiness, charred bacon fat, alongside kicked red earth and brick dust, an array of exotic spices and purple fruit, all the while conveying balance and focus. These are the best examples of its capability. All of these things are evident in this wine, and it shows concentration and length in spades. It's a big, powerful wine but balanced too. Excellent.
Les Amis 2022
94 Points
The 2022 Les Amis Grenache is from a dry-grown Grenache vineyard, at around 320 meters in elevation, with blue stone, schist and ironstone on a bedrock of clay. Perfume and aromatic lift define the wines made from this place. It matured in small casks, with 30% to 40% new oak. The wine is rich, chocolaty, dense and fulsome, with dry savory spice and a variety of deli meats on the palate. It's a powerhouse of a wine, all gnarled muscle and gravelly length, accurately underpinned by pomegranate, wet garden rose and ferruginous tannins. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.
The Pict 2022
95 points
he 2022 The Pict Mataro is from a vintage that may always sit in the shadow of the excellent 2021 that came before it, yet for me, the 2022s have been such excellent and sometimes quieter iterations that I find myself preferring them more and more. As to which will be longer lived, time will tell, but 2022 is not a vintage to be underestimated. The wine leads with macerated cherries, pomegranate molasses, goji berries, black peppercorns and tapenade. On the palate, the wine is creamy and gravelly and a little boozy through the finish, and yet the fruit wears it well. I clarified the following with winemaker Ian Hongell (from my note written last year): "The fruit is from a 1901 planting, planted in the middle of a paddock. 'There's sheep and one tree. And some rocks,' says winemaker Ian Hongell." He agrees; this is the case with the vineyard. The vines were planted 124 years ago and produce wines with close-knit gravelly tannins, silky fruit and persistent length. This is another Torbreck wine that speaks so clearly of Barossa.