David Powell

Torbreck: The wines of David Powell

Torbreck was founded in 1994 by David Powell and the name “Torbreck” comes from a forest in Scotland where David worked as a lumberjack. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting David on one occasion (didn’t end well) and he’s an intense individual who loves Rhône varieties and produces stunning wines from some of the oldest vines in the world. To get access to these grapes, David starting in 1992 by finding old, neglected, dry grown vineyards that he would nurse back to health.  By share-farming these vineyards (a practice of paying the owner a percentage of the market rate of the grapes in exchange for total control in the vineyard),  he was able to secure contracts for some of the most prized sites in the Barossa Valley.  The results speak for themselves and while Aussie Shiraz has certainly fallen out of favor recently, the wines are stunning and worth checking out.  In some cases, the bang for the buck is unparrelleled and the wines are down right fun to drink.

2005 Torbreck Shiraz Run Rig (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
Unbelievably rich and decadent, the 2005 Torbreck Run Rig shows bright, slightly volatile aromas of dark fruit, meat, blood, campfire, chocolate and sweet oak. The slight volatile notes detract but the overall size and intensity here is something. On the palate, the wine is perfect with full body, massive fruit, stunning balance and precision, perfect structure and a long, long finish. (96-98 pts.)

2005 Torbreck Shiraz The Factor (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
Not for the faint of heart, the full bore 2005 Torbreck Shiraz The Factor offers up amazingly ripe aromatics of black licorice, sweet oak and raw, meaty aromas intermixed with gorgeous dark fruit, herbs and tar notes. Full bodied, lush, rich and with a mouth coating texture and fantastic length, this improved markedly with air, picking up more edge and cut. (96 pts.)

2006 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
Simply stunning, the 2006 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis possesses stunning, massive aromatics of blackberry and cassis fruit mixed with licorice, meat and toasted spice. Complex, intense and nuanced. The palate is full bodied with huge fruit, beautiful balance and a structured, tannic finish. A gorgeous wine! (97-99 pts.)

2005 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
Drank next to a 2003 Pegau, the 2005 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis seemed amazingly clean, pure and elegant with seamless integration and balance. The nose has soaring aromatics and shows fabulously sweet raspberry and blueberry fruit, spice, vanilla and integrated oak aromas and comes across as very clean and fruit driven but not even close to over the top. Full bodied and perfectly built, this shows sweet fruit, amazing concentration, awesome balance and a huge, blockbuster finish. (96 pts.)

2008 Torbreck Cuvée Juveniles (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
A beautiful Cotes du Rhone look alike, the 2008 Torbreck Cuvée Juveniles is a blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Mataro and 20% Syrah from old (40 to 150+ years) dry farmed bushvine vineyards around Tanunda. Per the spec sheet, the same fruit as their “The Steading” blend but sees no oak during its elevage and is bottled under screw cap six months after harvest. On the nose, this offers up ripe, complex aromatics of lavender, garrigue and exotic spice that are supported by sweet black cherry and blackberry fruit notes. The palate is medium bodied with a soft texture, sweet fruit and an overall drink me now character. Just a delicious, lush and easy going wine that should provide lots of pleasure over the next year or two. (90 pts.)

2007 Torbreck Shiraz Woodcutter’s (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
The 2007 Torbreck Shiraz Woodcutter’s is a fat, unctuous Shiraz that offers up sweet blueberry and blackberry fruit mixed with spice, vanilla and oak notes. The palate takes some air time to come together but is smooth, lush and balanced with gobs of ripe fruit and a viscous texture. Slightly softer than previous vintages but firms up with air and is a fantastic aussie Shiraz to drink over the next couple of years. (91 pts.)

2006 Torbreck Shiraz Woodcutter’s (Australia, South Australia, Barossa, Barossa Valley)
While rich and intense, the 2006 Torbreck Shiraz Woodcutter’s is beautifully balanced, shows nice acidity and has a soft, easy drinking character. Outstanding. (92 pts.)

The joy of double blind tasting… there’s nothing like it to really make you question exactly what you’re smelling, how the wine tastes and what you think of it.  A hefty dose of humble pie is normally thrown in for good measure. This month the theme for the Fort Collins group was a loosely defined “Truth or Dare” scheme.  This involves all wines served double blind with the person bringing the wine writing on the bag (or announcing prior to unbagging) the name of a wine… It’s then the taster’s job to either agree with the declared wine… or cry BS.

I arrived late and the 2005 Domaines Schlumberger Pinot Gris Les Princes Abbés had already made its rounds on the table. The pretty floral and slightly honeyed notes paired with some sweetness and minerality on the finish had me guessing Chenin Blanc… err, negative ghost rider and a big swing and a miss…strike 1.

The bag on the next bottle claimed 1999 Monbousquet… and it was a good lie.  The wine was deeply colored with ripe cassis and plumy fruit mixed with chocolate and spice notes on the nose.  The palate was integrated and had a smidge of maturity with beautifully integrated oak and just enough earth and meaty notes to have the right bank Merlot label seem feasible… The 2001 Paloma Merlot is a stunning bottle of wine but for the life of me, I can’t remember what my guess was… I seriously considered the right banker though.

The group’s Italian lush produced the next bottle… so of course the wine screamed Barolo. Seriously… tar, lots of dirt and dusty notes…  If I tried, I could have conjured up rose petal aromas… with air however, this original thought slowly bit the dust as the wine fleshed out to show graphite, cassis and mature Cabernet notes.  At one point I even called this the 1988 Montelena (after being told it was an ‘88) but then changed my guess to a Super Tuscan right before the bag came off… Damn! Fantastic showing by the 1988 Chateau Montelena Estate and even better than a previous bottle a couple months ago.

I wasn’t the biggest fan of the 2003 Château Pipeau. Sporting ripe and lifted aromatics (and a little VA), this seemed slightly candied and while it showed nice ripeness, it lacked mid-palate depth and came across as hard and angular. Certainly good but I’d drink these sooner rather than later.  I did not think this was Bordeaux…  strike 2… or 3… who’s counting.

The fully mature 1978 Miguel Torres Gran Coronas Reserva Black Label was impressive! I guessed mature California Cabernet… and Rob had even told me he was bringing this bottle earlier that week… Another swing and a miss but this is a unique 100% Cabernet from Spain so while I’m only 4000+ miles off on the region… I did get the variety… small victories right… Beautifully mature and nuanced, this still showed noticeable oak and vanilla paired with ripe (although fading) fruit. A slight hint of mint and eucalyptus lead me to Cali but the palate was rich, smooth, completely integrated and long. A treat to drink but this bottle seemed on the downward slop and owners should drink up.

The next brown bag labeled Penfolds screamed high end California Cabernet to me. Decadent and simply stunning with dark fruit, cassis, earth and chocolaty oak leading into a perfect, full bodied palate, I was in love and thought it was an ’03 or ’04 high end Cali cab… even mentioned Foley’esk…so was happy to see this turn out to be the 2004 Robert Foley Claret.  Despite the size of the wine, there wasn’t a hint of heat and it was polished, balanced and incredibly long.

The 2005 Château Pipeau was an interesting twist and was billed as a duplicate ’03 Pipeau. Very similar aromatics between the two but I thought this was better than the ‘03 on all accounts. Smokey with spicy oak and ripe dark cherry and cassis fruit paired up with a medium to full bodied, concentrated, tannic palate that showed nice acidity, I thought this was a modern Tempranillo from Spain… swing and yes, another miss.  Regardless, a beautiful bottle of wine.

Unfortunately, the 2005 Domaine de la Mordorée Châteauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée de la Reine des Bois wasn’t showing at its best due to inadequate decanting… the blame lays squarely on me as I’ve had numerous bottles of this… Screaming good the next day, this was a wee bit disjointed and showed a hint of alcohol and serious tannin on the blockbuster finish. I’m nit picking though as even though this wasn’t showing its best, it’s still one stunning bottle of wine. The closest guess was an ’05 Janasse VV and my billing it as an ’03 Leoville Poyferre fooled more than one person… and if I hadn’t brought the wine, probably me as well.

A great group of people and another monthly tasting in the books!

Thanks for reading!

- Jeb

Wines:

2006 Jean-Luc Colombo Crozes-Hermitage Les Fées Brunes (France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Crozes-Hermitage)
Food friendly and with lots of northern Rhone character, the 100% Syrah, 2006 Jean-Luc Colombo Crozes-Hermitage Les Fées Brunes shows raspberry and sour cherry fruit intermixed with herbs, peppered bacon and violet aromas.  In the mouth, this is soft and supple with medium body, a smooth texture, nice acidity and a medium length finish. Balanced and simply delicious, I’d drink this over the following 3 to 5 years. (87 pts.)

2005 Domaine de la Janasse Côtes du Rhône Les Garrigues (France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône)
A serious, deep Côtes du Rhône, the 2005 Domaine de la Janasse Côtes du Rhône Les Garrigues possesses ripe, licorice infused black cherry and blackberry fruit paired with roasted meat, garrigue, and subtle saddle leather notes and while it starts out reticent and tight, it opens up beautifully with air.  On the palate, this has beautiful density and depth to go with its full body, sweet fruit,  rich texture and long finish.  In short, a stunning wine to drink over the next 10 to 12 years. (90 pts.)