The guests were:-
Kim Bickley – Head Sommelier, Glass Brasserie at the Sydney Hilton
Ben Kelly – Manager, Wine Culture
Antoine Habera - Head Sommelier, Prime Restaurant
Daniel Sofo – Owner, Fire Fly Restaurants and Bars
Valdimir Vujovic – Owner, Young Alfred and Love Supreme
Maria Ferrer - Manager, Best Cellars
Peter Downie - Owner, the Oak Barrel
What a line up !
The flight was very smooth and we were met at the airport by a wonderful old fellow called Colin who would be our coach driver for the next two days; he was always on time and didn’t mind the odd joke.
After getting to Torbreck we noticed that our guests were thirsty and so without further ado we opened the 2008 V/M/R which looked great, with lovely succulent honeysuckle and marzipan flavours. When Dave Powell arrived to greet us, we got stuck into some wonderful catering from Maggie Beer’s Pheasant Farm which was much liked and didn’t last long. At this time we looked at a few of the current release red wines;
2007 The Struie (Graphite, liquorice and tar – is concentrated and will be long lived)
2006 The Factor (Blue accented, fresh fruits with incredible concentration and balance, nothing else from the Barossa like it)
2006 RunRig (the best I have seen it – ethereal and pulsing with brightness and vibrancy – a great RunRig)
Then we went to watch the end of the 2009 AFL Grand Final in the boardroom and the following were opened to taste.
2002 Les Amis – This looked terrific; big glossy fruit still billowing forth but some lovely tarry complexity starting to develop. Will be great to revisit in 5 years.
2005 The Laird – Wow ! This is the new ‘project’ that Dave has been working on – a single vineyard Shiraz matured exclusively in Laurent ‘Magic’ Casks. It’s going to be rare but worth tracking down as this is just a phenomenal wine, that for some strange reason reminded me of Rinaldi Barolo!
2006 The Laird – Staggeringly good, that’s all I can say. Dave says it’s the best wine he’s ever made..
Following this and to show where the Torbreck wines fitted into the Pantheon of things Dave opened upa 2005 Guigal Cote Rotie ‘La Mouline’ which was terrific and embryonic but it did not outshine the Laird.
The next morning we gathered for a tasting at Vintners where we looked back at some verticals of The Steading, The Factor and RunRig before having a leisurely lunch and a comfortable coach ride back to the airport and a smooth ride home.
Thank you to all our guests for coming and to all of you....sign up for the Laird !
Written by Andrew Guard - National Sales Manager