The simple strategy of Torbreck Vintners: old vines make bold wines
By John Schreiner
October 23, 2005
It is just a guess, but I think the average price of Australian table wines in the British Columbia market is around $15 a bottle. It is, however, an educated guess from scanning the Liquor Distribution Branch’s catalogue.
Clearly, the Australian category is very competitive, with the majority of these relatively inexpensive wines delivering sound quality for the money. So how does a young Australian winery survive against such competition?
“There is always room at the top,” quips David Powell, the managing director and chief winemaker of Torbreck Vintners, a Barossa winery that he launched in 1994. The Torbreck wines in this market start at $25 and the flagship wine is $245 a bottle.
You would think that risks running into price resistance. A few years ago, however, Powell wanted to slow down that rate at which Torbreck’s wines were selling and doubled the price of some. “Ironically, we are selling the wines twice as fast,” says Powell, who recently led a tasting of his wines in Vancouver.
Torbreck’s experience is not unique. Any producer of top quality wine or wine with a pedigree (i.e., Bordeaux’s classified growths) can get a really good dollar for it from the growing pool of affluent wine buyers. That pool includes a growing number of Asian consumers who have become a force in world wine markets in the past 15 or so years. For example, Torbreck sells significant volumes of its premium wines in the Japanese market.
The “room at the top” strategy might be regarded as cynical, except that the wines really deliver a sensual satisfaction that almost justifies the prices. The reason for that is that Torbeck wines are made from some of the oldest vines in the Barossa. The vines may be more than 100 years old. Vines that old never produce much fruit but what is produced yields wines of glorious concentration. The finish on the $245 wine, a Shiraz called Runrig, is so long that its persistence can be timed with a stop watch. Try that with a $12 Shiraz and the finish will be gone before you even look at your watch.
Powell is like his wines: larger than life. The son of an accountant, he has an economics degree, not a winemaking degree, from Adelaide University. At some point in his peripatetic youth, he worked as a logger in Scotland. That is where he bulked up his muscular build. The experience now is remembered in the name of the winery and of the wines.
The Scots forest was called Torbreck. The entry level wines are Woodcutters Sémillon and Woodcutters Shiraz. The Steading is a Highland term for a group of farm buildings. The Struie is the name of a hill that rises above the Glenmorangie distillery. Runrig ($245) is a term for a Highland land distribution system. Powell gives his wines such names not just from sentimentality but because the names underline the distinctiveness of each label. It is the sort of smart marketing one would expect from an economics graduate.
Powell, of course, has not practised as an economist. He was drawn to wine while still a student and, on graduation, worked at a number of wineries in Australia and abroad. “I am not a scientist,” he says. “My wines are based on my palate and on what I have learned.” His winemaking techniques are uncomplicated, right down to yeast selection. Where many other winemakers now use wild yeasts or a range of cultured yeasts, he has settled on a basic yeast strain called EC1118. In amateur winemaking circles, this strain is known as a killer yeast because it gets the job of fermentation done with the least number of problems. Powell sees no point on complicating life with unpredictable yeast strains.
The real secret of most Torbreck wines lies in the old vines in many of the vineyards that Powell owns or contracts. Old Shiraz and old Grenache vines yield dark, rich wines. Powell captures these flavours in his wines and never covers the fruit with excessive oak. “I like oak in wine – but it is there as a seasoning,” he says.
Most of his interesting wines are available in the Liquor Distribution Branch’s specialty stores and at Marquis Wine Cellars, a private wine store. These are the wines.
* Woodcutters Sémillon 2004 ($30): Fresh and foreword, with lemony notes and a crisp finish. 88 points.
* Woodcutters Shiraz 2004 ($33): A polished red with spicy fruit. 86
* Juveniles 2002 ($39). Fermented in stainless steel tanks, the wine offers jammy aromas and a great mouthful of plum and cherry flavours. The blend is 60% Grenache and 20% each of Shiraz and Mataro. 85
* The Steading 2002 ($50). This is the same blend as Juveniles but barrel aging has replaced the precocious fruitiness of Juveniles with flavours of mocha, black cherries, olives and plums. 88
* The Struie 2003 ($75). Made 100% with Shiraz, this wine shows smoky tar aromas, concentrated flavours of currants and prunes and a hint of anise on the finish. 89
* The Factor 2003 ($146). This also is 100% Shiraz from 60 to 90-year-old vines. Almost black in colour, the wine shows aromas of spiced plums. The texture is dense, with a satisfying warmth on the palate and a long finish. 92
* Descendant 2003 ($146). This is Shiraz with eight per cent Viognier. The colour is deep; the aromas are complex, showing iodine, mint and dark fruits; and the flavours are savoury. 94
* Runrig 2002 ($245). Made from Shiraz vines with an average age of 120 years, this is an elegantly muscular red with a remarkable array of spice notes in the flavour. Three per cent of Viognier in the wine is just the touch needed to lift the aromas and brighten up the fruit.
Powell’s reds should age well, although Torbeck has not been around long enough to determine that. However, Powell’s practical advice is drink them up before they get too old. In his view, the charm of Barossa wines lies in the primary fruit flavours and these fade as a wine evolves in bottle.
goodgrog@shaw.ca
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