Critic tasting note: "This vintage of The Struie is almost entirely from the Barossa, with 8% Eden Valley fruit. The hot, dry growing year has resulted in a concentrated but sleek bottling with good cellaring potential. Vivid aromas of freshly crushed bramble berries mingle with violets, scrubby herbs, spices and chocolate. The mouthfeel is supple and fruit driven, supported by fine yet muscular tannins. Drink now–2037. Christina Pickard" - 94/100, Wine Enthusiast
Producer NotesThis Torbreck Shiraz cuvée is a skilful blend of fruit from a 40 year old Eden Valley Shiraz vineyard and an 80 year old Barossa Shiraz vineyard – a marriage of elegance and intensity. Torbreck is the name of a forest near Inverness, Scotland. You’ll find more than a passing nod to the Celts in our wine naming conventions including Struie, which is a 157 metre high mountain in the rugged highlands of north-east Scotland. The view from the Struie down across the Dornoch Firth is as inspiring as that of the Valley floor from Eden Valley.
Barossa Valley and Eden Valley, average age of vines, 50 years. Sub Regions: 80% Barossa Valley. 20% Eden Valley.
Vintage Notes
The growing season was defined by a continuously warm to hot summer with no effective rainfall, wind and hail at flowering, and followed with three major frosts - resulting in an earlier and much smaller harvest than average. These tough conditions produced smaller clusters of intensely dark berries with thick fleshy skins contrasted against brown mature stalks. Whilst yields were down, once these vineyards were fermenting in our cellar the concentration of colour, tannin and aroma of the 2019 vintage was revealed.
Winemaking
Each of the individual fruit parcels (many blocks were picked in different stages (tries) to ensure perfectly ripened fruit) were individually de-stemmed into both wooden & concrete open top fermenters where the juice was gently pumped over the skins twice a day for 6-7 days. After basket pressing the wine was gravity fed into underground cement vats where it naturally settled and was later racked into older French barriques.
Ageing
20 months in new (20%) and seasoned French oak.
Producer Tasting Notes
The Struie is a wonderfully aromatic and deeply concentrated wine produced from the harmonious combination of both regions, delivering layers of dark chocolate characters and defining structure. Nuances of plum, black and blueberries, violets and hidden spice characters all further enhance the natural elegance and tension from old vines.
