Descendant Barossa Valley Shiraz Viognier

Blend of 93% Shiraz and 7% Viognier, Ruby with purple hues, aromas of berry fruits, licorice, cigar box spice and floral notes. On the palate flavors of dark juicy raspberry and cherry with cinnamon, tea and oak. Well balanced, great meaty mouthfeel, fine tannins, long finish ending with ripe fruit spice, smoky oak and cacao. Very nice! Needs some time!

In Hobart for Christmas Eve. The familiar nose of an old high quality Australian Shiraz - the Descendant has a splash of Viognier and is “descended “ from Run Rig. Aromas of antique shop chest of drawers - old dried plum, dates and chocolate. Tannins are resolved and oak is integrated. after nearly 20 years. From the cool 2002 vintage in South Australia where the hang time was longer producing superb quality fruit. Great to get a wine of this quality and age from a restaurant wine list.

Ruby with purple hues, aromas of dark fruits, licorice, cigar box spice and violet notes, some Viognier added. On the palate flavors of dark juicy blackberry and cherry with cinnamon, espresso and oak. Well balanced, great meaty mouthfeel, chalky tannins, long finish ending with ripe fruit spice, smoky oak and cacao. Very nice!

Sweet tarriness.

Notes tomorrow.

Reduced and never opened.

En Mag. Tar, concentrated purple fruits, rich soil, iron and game meats. Quintessential Barossa. My first Descendant, I’d rank it up with Run Rig and Factor. A long decant gave this legs. Thanks stallion @Joe Lucca

A standout. From a mag, juicy and spicy. Black cherry, cream and smoke. @Joe Lucca thank you!

On the nose, sweet tarry notes, dark chocolate bar, sweet blue fruit cassis, baking spices, boysenberries, huckleberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, black plum, whiff of white pepper, smoke & a touch of bacon fat, spice-box, dark fruit Eau de vie brandy, a touch of soy, dark rich soils, dry top soil/clay, spearmint and fresh & dark red florals. The body is full, rich & round. The M+ tannins are velvety & round but still have nice teeth. The palate is very similar to the nose. Sweet tarry notes, dark chocolate bar, sweet blue fruit cassis, baking spices, boysenberries, huckleberries, dark cherries, black raspberries, black plum, smoke & a touch of bacon fat, whiff of white pepper, menthol, spice-box, dark fruit Eau de vie brandy, a touch of soy, dark rich soils, dry top soil/clay, spearmint and fresh & dark red florals. The finish is big, full, balanced in fruit, earth & spice, elegant and lasts and lasts. Photos of; their new facility opened in April of this year. Tasting bar, my lovely wife in our private tasting area, those beautiful red clay Barossa soils and their vines as viewed front exiting their front door.

On the nose, boysenberries, olallieberries, blueberries, blackberries, baking spices, dry powdery soils, dry stems, bramble and bright, fresh, fragrant purple florals. The palate is warm, lush, round and elegant. Tannins 65% resolved. It's still fairly big and very fresh. Palate fruits are; boysenberries, olallieberries, blueberries, blackberries, black raspberries and raspberries haunting the background. Lifting warm spices, black pepper, black licorice, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, dry crushed rocks, volcanic minerals with liqueur notes settling in at the mid point to the long finish. Dry stones, dry straw, tarry notes, violets, purple florals and palate raining acidity. The finish is long with good balance of fruit & earth. There's still nice tension, length and structure. The 05 still has another 7-10 years of good drinking ahead. As great as it was to be at the property tasting their new releases, it's a pleasure to enjoy one of their well aged wines back in the states. Photos of; the view from the new estate (love that red Barossa soil), tasting bar, Andrew Tierney, Torbreck International Sales Ambassador who hosted our visit(left) and Owner, David Powell (right). Producer history and notes...Torbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in 1994. Before founding Torbreck, he worked for Robert O'Callaghan at Rockford Wines in the Barossa Valley. Rockford is an historic old winery and they love old historic wine relics...all you have to do is walk the property. In trying to start his own label, David lacked the funds to buy grapes outright. So, David began to share-farm a vineyard, a practice which involves working without pay until the grapes are sold, at which time the owner is paid a percentage of the market rate for his grapes and the share-farmer keeps the grapes for their own use. The share-farming principle or as we call it, sweat equity. This enabled Torbreck to obtain fruit from the very best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, while giving David Powell experience working in the vineyard and winery. In 1995 Powell crushed and fermented his grapes in a shed on his 12-hectare Marananga property; which continues to be home to the winery. The winery was named "Torbreck" after the forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack. The first wine made under the Torbreck label was the 1995 RunRig. When it was released in 1997, Parker gave it a score of 95; which went a long way in launching Torbreck Vintners. Lisa, now Managing Editor at Robertparker.com raised that score to 98 in 2010. In late 2002, Torbreck was placed into receivership due to financial pressures on Powell from a divorce settlement. Torbreck was purchased by Australian businessman Jack Cowin for 6.5 million Australian dollars with Powell retained as winemaker and managing director. In 2008 Powell reacquired the estate in partnership with Peter Kight, the owner of Quivira Winery in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley in California. Torbreck produces around 70,000 cases of wine per year, depending on vintage conditions. 6.5 million Australian dollars is not a lot of money in today's environment...actually quite a deal. They had just completed their new facilities as shown in the photos two weeks prior to our visit in April. If you haven't had their wines, their lower price wines are very good at great values. Torbreck makes everything up to their high end RunRig at $300 plus a bottle with lots of quality wines in between that are really quite good and value priced vs. the rest of international market.

A #Barossa Cote-Rotie. Flowers, spice, blackberry, tasting the oak and some tannins. I usually love this wine, might be going through a closed phase.