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Torbreck Runrig 2020
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Torbreck Runrig 2020
- Grape 98.5% Shiraz, 1.5% Viognier
- Country Australia
- Region Barossa Valley
- ABV 15.5%
- Producer Torbreck
- Case size 6 / 75cl
- 30 months on new (42%), second-fill and third-fill French oak barriques
- Crimson and deep purple hues Cherry plum, dark chocolate, mulberry, and five-spice with savoury tones Full-bodied, firm tannins interplay with a generous, silky, textural midpalate weight. The finish is firm and persistent. Although wonderfully aromatic, Runrig exhibits power and latent richness, making it more akin to the hugely concentrated wines sourced from the sun-drenched hill of Hermitage—the historic home of Syrah and some of the world’s most powerful and longest-living wines.
- I have tasted (and bought) this wine back to the 1996 vintage, so I am familiar with its mood swings and changeable temperament. In 2020, Runrig is an MMA thoroughbred with an awe-inspiring power-to-weight ratio and a brooding,
ever-so-slightly scary degree of intensity balanced by cathedral-like calm. This is the finest ever young Runrig I have tasted, and if you fancy another tenuous mental image, then this is the darkest of night skies with no moon in evidence. You cannot even see your hand in front of your face, and when you taste this wine, it seems like it is the only wine in the world. Unlike The Factor, it is closed, commanding, immovable, and all-encompassing, but the very first hints of pliability and tenderness appear along its flanks. When this wine starts to unwind, it will undoubtedly reveal more chapters of fruit than any Runrig before it, and I imagine it will run for decades, such is its pedigree. If any wine in this line-up left me breathless, it is 2020 Runrig. 20/20
An above-average winter rainfall led to a below-average spring and summer rainfall, producing small bunches and small berries, leading to a reduced yield. Quality was certainly high, particularly amongst our Shiraz, Grenache, and Mataro red varieties. 2018 wines will be remembered for their impressive colour, structure, and longevity. Grape 98% Shiraz, 2% Viognier Maturing 30 months on new (50%), second fill, and third fill French oak barriques, completing a natural malolactic fermentation in barrel and resting on fine lees throughout maturation to enhance texture Alc/Vol 15%
Tasting the Runrig beside the Descendant is always a wise move to gain some contextual understanding of how they are similar and, perhaps more importantly, how they differ. This 2020 RunRig was sourced from six different vineyards across Barossa (in Lyndoch, Rowland Flat, Moppa, Ebenezer, Light Pass, and Greenock) and includes a 2% "dosage" (as winemaker Ian Hongell described it) of Viognier. Matured for 30 months in a combination of new French oak (50%) and second and third-fill barrels, the wine rests on its lees for that time. The lower percentage of Viognier here is a seductive and effective thing, adding just enough slickness and polish to make this the sybaritic wine that it is, but little enough to allow the grunt, grit, and muscle of the Shiraz from all those glorious locations to shine through. Despite a long time in oak, the wine is balanced and excellent, big in almost every possible way but with an undeniable sense of class and length of flavour. Executed with detail and precision, this wine is clearly defined in its expression of house style.
Price | £901.03 |
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Country | Australia |
Vintage | 2020 |
Bottles Per Case | 6 |
Bottle Size | 75 |
2 cases 10% off | No |
Winery | The vision is Torbreck Vintners, which was founded in 1994 and was born out of a desire to create some of the greatest wines in the world by using the ancient, dry-grown Shiraz vineyards that surround the Barossa Valley. Securing these vineyards initially involved share-farming the property. This practice involves paying the owner a percentage of the market rate for their grapes in return for managing the vineyard. This share-farming principle, together with their selection of some of the most highly prized vineyards, formed the founding pillars of Torbreck’s incredible international success. The vineyards, in particular, enabled them to source some of the very best fruit in the Barossa Valley, home to some of the world's oldest and most precious vines. Provenance is everything to Torbreck. They believe that the Barossa Valley, with its gentle Mediterranean climate and 175-year Silesian and English winemaking history, is the most exciting place in the world to make wine. A European sense of tradition here means that vines planted in the 1840s – many of them Rhone varieties such as Shiraz, Grenache and Mourvédre – still thrive and bear fruit of unique concentration and flavour. |