Blog

Welcome 2012 Vintage Casuals - A Snapshot of the Team by Bec Weatherill

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 14:30:00 GMT

We are lucky to have a great bunch of young, enthusiastic, wine lovers from around the globe ... we’d like to take the opportunity to introduce our 2012 vintage crew...

2012 Vintage in Full Swing by Craig Isbel

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:30:00 GMT

The 2012 Harvest has officially started at Torbreck with the Brown Frontignac that we craft The Bothie from coming in last Friday and this past Monday...

Harvest 2012 Quickly Approaches by Craig Isbel (Winemaker)

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:30:00 GMT

It's 30 degrees Celsius outside, the grapes are changing colour, vine growth is slowing down and it feels like another vintage is just around the corner...

Los Angeles Gears up for Australia Day by Dan Fredman (Torbreck PR extraordinaire)

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:30:00 GMT

The “Around Australia in 80 Sips” juggernaut rolled into Southern California last week as a precursor to Australia Day...

Abandon Ye the Common Wisdom, Join the “Cool Wine Is Cool” Club! - Dan Fredman (US Public Relations Guru)

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 14:30:00 GMT

We have all heard that the common wisdom states red wine should be served at room temperature. “Common Wisdom” is what the masses are led to believe. You’d do well to keep in mind that it is common wisdom that elects our politicians, programs our television shows, and guilts us into driving a miserable Prius when we’d really rather be cruising along in a 1978 Aston-Martin V8 Vantage that sucks down gas like it was free RunRig...

Everyday Should Be Grenache Day! - by Craig Isbel (winemaker)

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 14:30:00 GMT

...the love should be shown every day and not just the designated one day of the year. AND SO IT IS at Torbreck with ‘International Grenache Day’....

Torbreck Hosts Barossa Klassik 2011

Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:30:00 GMT

Last month, the Torbreck Barrel Hall was magically transformed into a concert venue for the second season of Barossa Klassik. With the lights dimmed, glowing back-lit barrels and candlelight, the intimate setting provided the perfect atmosphere for guests to relax and enjoy an amazing listening experience, not to mention an acoustic that rivals some of the world's finest...

Torbreck releases 2006 The Laird

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:30:00 GMT

What better way to judge a wine than put it against some of the top wines of the world and invite renowned wine critics and sommeliers from across Australia to decide for themselves? That’s exactly what we did for the launch of The Laird 2006. By showing a wine amongst what could be argued are its peers, gives a true indication of a wine’s worth...

Dave Visits Southern California

Sun, 29 May 2011 14:30:00 GMT

Resting up after a (ahem!) difficult 2011 Barossa harvest? Not Dave Powell!

2011 Vintage Report

Wed, 18 May 2011 14:30:00 GMT

The infamous 2011 Vintage has finally drawn to a close today with Scott digging out the final Shiraz ferment as I type. It is fitting that the fruit in this last fermenter was sourced from Eden Valley, the region that I was resigned to not picking any grapes from at all...

2011 Harvest Weekend at Torbreck

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 14:30:00 GMT

What a wonderful start to our Harvest Weekend as we welcome international guests with warm and sunny Barossa weather. Guests travel from all over the globe (China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, UK, and USA) to help Torbreck celebrate the 2011 vintage...

2011 Vintage Casuals Arrive

Sun, 20 Mar 2011 14:30:00 GMT

At this time of the year my winery staff numbers double in size...

2011 Vintage Slowly Approaches

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 14:30:00 GMT

The facet of winemaking that keeps me enthusiastic and interested above all else is probably the weather...

Torbreck Attends Langton's Classification V Tasting

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Our regular blog readers and customers probably know that Dave Powell, our proprietor and Chief Winemaker at Torbreck, is a rather quiet and reserved sort of guy. Not really one to blow his own trumpet and talk his wines or himself up.

Torbreck RunRig Earns “Exceptional” Ranking in Latest Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine V

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 14:30:00 GMT

It is with elation and no small amount of pride that Torbreck is honored to announce RunRig has been elevated to the rank of “Exceptional” wines in the most recent updating of Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine V.

Barossa Valley Hosts Top Australian Sommeliers

Sun, 08 Aug 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Representing some of the best restaurants in Australia, twenty four Sommeliers gathered together in the sunny Barossa Valley...

It’s Tuesday... what continent am I on?

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Virtually every winery with half-a-clue about business seems to have their winemakers out flogging their wines somewhere in the world in the past couple of months. I know this from first-hand experience, since I’ve seen them all out there.

Natural Wine Project - 2010 Update

Sun, 06 Jun 2010 14:30:00 GMT

If you would like to know more on our Natural Wine Project, please read on...............

Alder Yarrow visits Torbreck

Sun, 16 May 2010 14:30:00 GMT

Alder Yarrow pioneered wine blogging back in 2003 and his Vinography blog is now among the most respected and widely-read wine blogs in the world.

Latest Happenings in the Winery - By Craig Isbel

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:30:00 GMT

Six months have passed since the end of the vintage and on the weeeknd we held our annual Growers Tasting and Dinner. This tasting is not only a chance for us to look through all the batches of wine...

My Weekend with Dave Part II

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:30:00 GMT

The continued Blog of Dave's recent travels.....................

My weekend with Dave - Part I - By Dan Fredman

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 14:30:00 GMT

It’s late at night. The phone rings with a jolly-yet-ominous ringtone of “Manifesto” by the Cat Empire.

“Hello mate, it’s Dave Powell. I’ve got a meeting in San Francisco on Friday and I don’t fly out of Los Angeles until Monday. Why don’t you come up and meet me for the weekend in Paso Robles?”

Sydney Trade Visit to Torbreck 27 September 2009

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:30:00 GMT

James Young, NSW Sales Manager and I (Andrew Guard) got onto a plane from Sydney early Saturday morning with some of the best (and avourite) customers for a voyage to Torbreck as we wanted to show them all the changes that had taken place over the past few years and of course show them some good old fashioned hospitality.

It's in the glass, dammit..............

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:30:00 GMT

We tend to fear what we do not know, and when “experts” weigh in with their opinions, it’s as easy to follow them down the merry path of shared ignorance as it is to let them lead you onward down the path of knowledge and informed enlightenment.

What the @$#% am I talking about? Why, it seems that a couple of months ago a wine writer in the UK opined that the Australian wine industry was in trouble because of oversupply, low quality, and pricing strategies that would confuse anyone other than a tax agent. Then a NY wine writer chimed in to agree and then that became a mini-tsunami of “me-too” reports, blog posts, tweets and whispered innuendo (innuendi?) over the following weeks.

The result was that consumers (the ones who read this sort of thing) were scared away from drinking Australian wine and this was not good for anyone other than the Malbec producers in Argentina who’ve been living off the fact that Malbec bears a little similarity flavor and texture-wise to Merlot, the previous pariah of the wine critic world (and besides, mouthing the word “maahlbec” is tres chic compared to the more pedestrian “mayrlowe”).

Along about now you may be asking yourself “just what does this have to do with Torbreck anyway? Torbreck is a great Aussie winery that makes wines that are best compared to the best wines of the rest of the world, not just the best wines of Oz!” And you’d be correct, but for the fact that over here in the US of A we’re awfully competitive and people are as apt to compare RunRig to Yellowtail as they are to compare a Bentley GT to a Volkswagen Beetle. These stories about the wine business freaked people out and caused them to forget about the main question inherent in the realm of wine: Does It Taste Good?

So this was the climate encountered by Dave Powell when he was over here a couple of weeks ago. Rather than be all defensive on the topic, he took the opportunity to put some Torbreck into the glasses of some of the same critics who weighed in on the topic of “the Oz wine biz has screwed the pooch”*. Don’t you know it, they LOVED Torbreck. Retailers who’d sworn off ever buying any wine with a focus group plotting to put a cute animal on its label ordered case stacks of Woodcutter’s Shiraz, Struie, and even the occasional box of The Pict. Writers who’d learned to deign anything from below the equator began seeing the beauty of driving on the wrong side of the road and that their summer wasn’t compromised because it was someone else’s summer. Now, I’ll allow as to the possibility that it was merely Dave’s charm and winning personality that convinced people to trust their own palates, to put away their fears, and to not blindly succumb to the keening and whingeing of the wine media, but ya know, I’d rather believe that all of these people from all of these diverse backgrounds and with all of their contrasting agendas simply enjoyed a transcendent moment as they found that it’s the wine that counts.

Truth is good, and one way or the other, it’s in the glass. Experience it first hand, why don’t you.

(Rant over). (Thank you). (I feel so much better).

D Fredman
Torbreck PR Guy
Malibu**, California, USA

*And maybe to a certain extent, they have, but that’s a topic for another time.
**Plenty of truth in Malibu, but it’s sometimes enhanced cosmetically.

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What's Happening In The Winery

Mon, 07 Sep 2009 14:30:00 GMT

At this time of the year, many winemakers in the Southern states do their best mutton bird impression and migrate north to the promise of sunshine and the festive atmosphere of another vintage. At the moment our gun Cellar Hand, Scott McDonald, is throwing himself at another vintage with our good friends at Quivira. I am not sure what he is more excited about; getting back amongst the biodynamic vineyards or settling into the locally brewed ales at the Dry Creek General Store. Our Assistant Winemaker, Russell Burns, is also about to embark on a Northern Hemisphere Vintage in sunny Portugal. Personally, I have just returned from Europe where I ‘recalibrated’ my palate while travelling through the Southern Rhone. I love going back there. It's a great reminder of how well suited their native varieties are to their terroir and the wines always seem more pure and vibrant when tasted where they are made. It is also fantastic to catch up with some of the winemakers that have made the journey to Australia to help us at Torbreck during our vintage. There is nothing quite like the excitement and enthusiasm of a Frenchy trying to show you hundreds of years of winemaking and food culture in one day! I guess the ability to travel and discover new flavours, varieties, people and philosophies is just another reason why we choose to dedicate our lives to the journey of wine.

Needless to say, things are relatively quiet here in the Barossa at the moment. The 2009 vintage was the easiest vintage I have had since I have been at Torbreck and the wines have continued to behave themselves through malo-lactic fermentation. I am not usually one to get ahead of myself, but the 2009 wines are truly stunning. They have amazing structure, texture, lift and vibrancy and I honestly can’t wait to release the 2009 Juveniles so that everyone else can see what we are seeing in the winery.

We have also just recently ‘battled’ through blending the 2007 RunRig. It probably won’t come as a great shock to anyone to hear that I really enjoy tasting through the barrels for the RunRig. It is amazing to taste the components and to see the personality of each individual vineyard. I am always humbled by this process when I think about all the work that has gone into this wine, from the growers and their gnarly old vineyards, to the cellar hands that meticulously cared for the fruit during fermentation. It is also the last wine that we make from each vintage and in a way it gives some closure to the 2007 vintage. We are again very proud of the wines we produced from 2007 and hope everyone enjoys drinking them as much as we enjoyed making them.

Cheers,
Craig Isbel

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