Torbreck Hillside Grenache 2018
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Winemaker Notes
The 2018 Torbreck Hillside Grenache is a crimson color. Lifted red fruit aromas such as red currants, pomegranate and aniseed. Hints of earth and clove balances the savory tones. Medium-bodied, textural with long acid spine balanced by tight and long yet refined tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Australian Wine Companion
From a single estate vineyard of dry-grown bush vines in Lyndoch, planted 1949. Matured 18 months in French oak foudre. Signature Barossa grenache, carefully executed in a strong season. Elegant red berries and spice are accurate and captivating, but it's the supple mouthfeel and intricate texture that really stand out here. Perfectly ripe, polished red cherry liqueur is impeccably set off by the creaminess of large oak foudres. Tannins sit so comfortably that you'd forget they were here at all, yet they hold a very long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From vines planted in 1949, the 2018 Hillside Vineyard Grenache offers up almost rose-like perfumes, plus scents of Maraschino cherries and alpine strawberries. Full-bodied, yet silky and delicate at the same time, it does a wonderful job capturing the quixotic and sometimes paradoxical essence of the variety. Big but charming, concentrated yet elegant, it lingers cheerily on the finish, framed by soft tannins accentuated by bright acids.
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James Suckling
This is a parcel of old-vine (1948), dry-grown bush vines and matured as a single 4,500-liter foudre with bright, red florals and raspberries, as well as redcurrants and a little blood orange. The palate has the same blood-orange character and delivers a fresh, elemental and succulent expression of very pure, old-vine grenache. Languid tannins.
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Wine Enthusiast
This vintage of Torbreck's singe-vineyard Grenache is a charming wine. The fruit is ripe, like grape and strawberry jelly. It's appealing but offers few secondary notes to add complexity. Thankfully, the layers come on the palate where firmly structured tannins are chalky in texture, supporting all that ripe fruit. Subtle floral and spice notes creep into the finish. This is a classy, high-gloss Grenache.
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Wine Spectator
There is a white truffle, earthy note to this red, mingling with toasted cumin, tobacco and black walnut notes. Raspberry, dried cherry and orange zest details sing out on the finish, with soft tannins. Drink now through 2030.
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Torbreck, founded in 1994 by David Powell, is situated at Marananga on the western ridge of the Barossa. Since that time he has produced some of the world's finest 'Rhone varietal' wines, exclusively from Barossa fruit; this has been acknowledged by the wine press in Europe, America and Australia. The overwhelming majority of his vines are dry-grown, nearly all are 80 - 125 years old and are tended and harvested by hand.
The wines have an extraordinary combination of power, intesity, complexity and great finesse, and bearing in mind the age of the vines and the laughably low yields, no Torbreck wine could ever be accused of being heavy, cloying or over-extracted.
Grenache thrives in any warm, Mediterranean climate where ample sunlight allows its clusters to achieve full phenolic ripeness. While Grenache's birthplace is Spain (there called Garnacha), today it is more recognized as the key player in the red blends of the Southern Rhône, namely Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Côtes du Rhône and its villages. Somm Secret—The Italian island of Sardinia produces bold, rustic, single varietal Grenache (there called Cannonau). California, Washington and Australia have achieved found success with Grenache, both flying solo and in blends.
Historically and presently the most important wine-producing region of Australia, the Barossa Valley is set in the Barossa zone of South Australia, where more than half of the country’s wine is made. Because the climate is very hot and dry, vineyard managers work diligently to ensure grapes reach the perfect levels of phenolic ripeness.
The intense heat is ideal for plush, bold reds, particularly Shiraz on its own or Rhône Blends. Often Shiraz and Cabernet partner up for plump and powerful reds.
While much less prevalent, light-skinned varieties such as Riesling, Viognier or Semillon produce vibrant Barossa Valley whites.
Most of Australia’s largest wine producers are based here and Shiraz plantings date back as far as the 1850s or before. Many of them are dry farmed and bush trained, still offering less than one ton per acre of inky, intense, purple juice.