The Auswine Forum

The first vintage of this beauty & only 150 cases made. I must have bought 5 cases from the then UK importers who decided to give the then unknown Dave Powell a bit of a ‘break’. The Run Rig was then priced beautifully at a mere £13pb and we duly consumed 3 of the cases in the first 18 months. This is my first taste since around 2000 I think and well worth the wait.

Saturated purple with very slight red on the rim. The nose was one or the most exotic IÂ’d come across for years. Full of blackberry, spicy anise (almost Henschke like), violet, bacon, smoke, olive, earth, honeysuckle, mineral & hints of chocolate. Stunning. The palate followed the nose being medium to full bodied. Truck loads of opulent cassis like richness with the most wonderful texture, being neither hard nor overly soft. Just fabulously rich & still light on its feet. The tannins were resolved, the acid was just about perfect & the oak had completely integrated with a huge satisfying finish. Seamless isnÂ’t a term I use often but this was.

This wine had cellared magnificently although not immortal. A remarkable first effort from a so-so year & to think the following vintages were supposed to be even better. Should improve over the next 5 years but I donÂ’t see the remains of this case lasting long. Excellent & possibly outstanding.

Phil

Hi Phil,

Great note, I didn't discover Torbreck until it was too late, Run Rig price wise, although I did attend some tastings from the 1998 vintage on & have been a huge fan ever since. It's nice to see some praise for Dave's wines, as the only thing I ever seem to read about them is either people canning the 2001 Juveniles random faults or criticisms of the extreme prices his top wines cost! I'm going Barossa visiting later in the year & I'm sure Torbreck will be one of the highlights.

lantana