Torbreck Wines > The Wines > Les Amis

2006	The 2006 Les Amis is 100% Grenache aged in new oak for 18 months. Purple-colored, it exhibits an enthralling nose of smoky oak, roses, garrigue, lavender, black cherry, and black raspberry. It conceals enough ripe tannin to support 5-7 years of additional cellaring. This layered, lengthy effort should be at its best from 2012 to 2024. Torbreck, under the leadership of owner/winemaker David Powell, remains a Barossa Valley benchmark as well as one of the world’s leading wine estates. Drink: 2012 - 2024 \| Date Tasted: Feb 09
2005	The 2005 Les Amis, sourced from a 100+-year-old vineyard, is 100% Grenache aged for 18 months in new oak. Remarkably fragrant, it emits full-throttle aromas of spice box, kirsch, wild raspberry, and blackberry liqueur. Plush on the palate, it reveals layers of rich, red and black berry flavors, ripe tannin, and a 60-second, pure finish. Although it can be admired now, the wine merits 6-8 years of further bottle aging to reveal all of its splendors. This sensational effort could easily masquerade as Pegau Cuvee de Capo on human growth hormone. Torbreck, under the leadership of owner/winemaker David Powell, remains a Barossa Valley benchmark as well as one of the world’s greatest wine estates. The top cuvees are limited production and expensive but there are also some outstanding values in the portfolio. With regard to the current vintages for the Barossa red wines, David Powell states “2004 is more savory while 2005 has more purity and definition. 2004 is more classic, 2005 will take longer to come around.” Date Tasted: Oct 07
2004	The brilliant 2004 Les Amis (100% Grenache aged 18 months in new oak) is fashioned from a vineyard planted in 1903. While it does not have quite the size and power of the 2002 Les Amis, it is still a Grenache on steroids. With wonderful purity, more elegance than the 2002, and remarkably well-integrated oak, I suspect it will shut down at some point, require 4-5 years of patience, then re-emerge and last for two decades or more. Drink: 2006 - 2026 \| Date Tasted: Oct 06
2003	The 2003 Les Amis is a 300-case cuvee of 100% Grenache from a vineyard planted in 1901. I have had a lot of fun serving the 2002 blind to guests, and for my taste, this cuvee is the reference point for old vine Grenache produced in Australia. It is extraordinarily elegant for a wine of such power, richness, and intensity. Amazingly delineated, with a dense ruby/purple color as well as a gorgeously sweet nose of smoke, spice box, black cherry liqueur, creme de cassis, licorice, and lavender, it offers impressive balance, purity, opulence, and persistence. This phenomenal wine is both powerful and refreshingly elegant. A magnificent achievement for Torbreck, it should drink well for 15+ years. David Powell, unquestionably one of the world’s finest wine producers, has an uncanny ability to discover old vine Barossa vineyards, and then secure long term contracts for their fruit. It is amazing that such high quality sources have not already been plucked by Australia’s giant wine corporations. Torbreck’s wines continue to get better and better, combining the old vine ripe fruit of Barossa with a European sensitivity to elegance and balance. The finest wines in this portfolio are pricy, but David Powell delivers some remarkable reds and whites at prices that are more than fair for the quality in the bottle. Drink: 2005 - 2020 \| Date Tasted: Oct 05
2002	One of the most remarkable wines in Torbreck’s portfolio is the 100% Grenache cuvee, the 2002 Les Amis (sadly, only 120 cases produced). It is made from an old, dry-farmed Grenache vineyard planted in 1901 that escaped the pull up of old vines that afflicted Barossa and McLaren Vale thirty years ago when the government’s intelligentsia was encouraging vineyard development in cool climate areas, and had concluded that warmer South Australia areas, such as Barossa and McLaren Vale, were irrelevant. Obviously, this was a blunder of extraordinary proportions. Luckily, some old vineyards were saved. Les Amis is David Powell’s homage to the most underrated great red wine of the world, France’s Chateauneuf du Pape. What is amazing about this wine is that Grenache tends to not do well in a lot of new oak, but this cuvee spends 18 months in new French oak, which is completely absorbed by the extraordinary fruit from Greenock Creek. A marvelous effort, it boasts an inky/ruby/purple color as well as an extraordinarily provocative perfume of crushed raspberries, black cherry liqueur. This full-bodied, multi-dimensional red inundates the palate with fruit, glycerin, and intensity. It has the highest alcohol content of all the Torbreck wines (16.5%), which tend to average 14.5%. Nevertheless, it is refreshing, vigorous, and incredibly well delineated. No doubt the old vines are the key to such a magnificent achievement. It should drink well for 10-12 years, possibly longer. Drink: 2004 - 2016 \| Date Tasted: Oct 04
2001	The debut vintage of Les Amis, the 2001, is 100% Grenache fashioned from 102-year old head-pruned vines, and aged in 100% new French oak. It tips the scales at 15% alcohol, but somehow manages to conceal its oak. A majestic red of great ripeness, richness, and copious quantities of kirsch liqueur, pepper, and spice, there is not a hard edge to be found in this dense, full-bodied offering. Sadly, there are only 100 cases of this compelling wine. It should be consumed over the next 5-7 years. Drink: 2003 - 2010 \| Date Tasted: Aug 03

Les Amis - The Wine Advocate (Robert Parker)