Winery & Vintage Info
On a highland farm in Scotland the collection of barns, stables and outbuildings is known as a Steading. Here in the Barossa Valley the varieties Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz all stand in their own right, however in blending, their strengths create a complex wine of solid, earthy structure. The fruit for the 2019 vintage Torbreck 'The Steading' is sourced from Grenache, Mataro and Shiraz vines that survived the worldwide phylloxera outbreak of the 1880s, and a century later, the vine-pull scheme in the Barossa in the 1980s.
The protection of this old vine resource of the Barossa Valley is central to the Torbreck story and this wine, more than any other, is an indication of what is possible from these historic cultivars.
Strong winds at flowering at the beginning of the growing season reduced berry and bunch count in many vineyards. The difficult seasonal conditions continued up to harvest: a dry winter and spring were followed by very hot and dry December and January. 2020 was a difficult season to manage for both grower and winemaker with yields much lower than anticipated. Older vineyards with deeper roots remained steadfast under these conditions and produced small volumes of deeply concentrated wines from the lower yields. While the yields have been small, the overall quality has created deeply coloured and textured wines that resonate their place of origin.
