Torbreck Vintners is an Australian wine

Australian wine

The Australian Wine Industry is the fourth largest exporter of wine around the world, with 760 million litres a year to a large international export market and contributes $5.5 billion per annum to the nation's economy...

ry in the Barossa Valley

Barossa Valley (wine)

The Barossa Valley is one of Australia's oldest wine regions. Located in South Australia, the Barossa Valley is about 56km northeast of the city of Adelaide...

, founded by David Powell in 1994. The winery is named after a forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack. The wines are made in a style emulating those of the Rhone Valley and are made from various grapes including red grapes Shiraz, Grenache

Grenache

Grenache is one of the most widely planted red wine grape varieties in the world. It ripens late, so it needs hot, dry conditions such as those found in Spain, the south of France, and California's San Joaquin Valley. It is generally spicy, berry-flavored and soft on the palate with a relatively...

 and Mataro

Mataró

Mataró is the capital and largest city of the comarca of the Maresme, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia Autonomous Community, Spain. It is located on the Costa del Maresme, to the south of Costa Brava, between Cabrera de Mar and Sant Andreu de Llavaneres, to the north-east of Barcelona. , it...

 as well as white grapes Viognier

Viognier

Viognier is a white wine grape. It is the only permitted grape for the French wine Condrieu in the Rhone valley.-History:The origin of the Viognier grape is unknown. Viognier is presumed to be an ancient grape, possibly originating in Dalmatia and then brought to Rhône by the Romans. One legend...

, Roussanne

Roussanne

Roussanne is a white wine grape grown originally in the Rhône wine region in France, where it is often blended with Marsanne. It is the only other white variety, besides Marsanne, allowed in the northern Rhône appellations of Crozes-Hermitage AOC, Hermitage AOC and Saint-Joseph AOC...

 and Marsanne.

History

While working for Rockford in 1992, Powell discovered a number of neglected vineyards with old vines and worked to bring them back to good health and buy fruit from them for the production of his own wine.

The first wine was made under the Torbreck label during the 1995 vintage, with the finished wines released in 1997.

In late 2002 the estate was placed into receivership

Receivership

In law, receivership is the situation in which an institution or enterprise is being held by a receiver, a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights." The receivership remedy is an equitable remedy that emerged in...

 due to financial pressures on Powell from a divorce settlement. Torbreck was purchased by Australian businessman Jack Cowin

Jack Cowin

Jack Cowin is an Australian businessman who owns Hungry Jack's, the Burger King franchise in Australia and is the Executive Chairman of Competitive Foods Australia, one of the country's largest privately held businesses...

 from receivers for 6.5 million Australian dollars, with Powell retained as winemaker and managing director. In 2008 Powell reacquired the estate for 25.3 million Australian dollars, in partnership with Peter Kight, the owner of Quivira Winery in California.

Wines

Torbreck produces around 70,000 cases of wine per year, depending on vintage conditions. The majority of the production is red wine, but there is around 10% of white wine made as well.

The "RunRig" is Torbreck's flagship wine, produced from 120 to 160 year old Shiraz vines and a small amount of Viognier. RunRig was included in the 4th edition of Langton's Classification

Langton’s Classification of Australian Wine

Langton's Classification of Australian Wine is a grouping of high-end Australian wines compiled by the Melbourne- and Sydney-based auction house Langton's, first released in 1991. The Classification is a ranking of the best performing wines based on market demand and vintages made...

 of Australian Wine at the "Excellent" level and was named one of Australia's 25 "benchmark" wines by Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator

Wine Spectator is a lifestyle magazine that focuses on wine and wine culture. It publishes 15 issues per year with content that includes news, articles, profiles, and general entertainment pieces...

magazine.