Dear Members,
For our next event, we are fortunate to be able to savour one of Australia’s finest wine producers. Whilst Australia does not have a classification similar to Bordeaux’s First Growths, they do have something similar called Langton’s Classification of Australian wines. This classification is a ranking of the best performing Australian wines based on secondary market prices over a minimum of 10 vintages and was first published in 1991, and are reviewed every 5 years. In this Classification, the highest category is “Exceptional” which lists the top 21 wines based on resale value.
The Torbreck ‘Run Rig Shiraz’ has been included in this top category since 2010. We are therefore very fortunately to be able to taste two vintages of this at our upcoming Torbreck dinner.
Many of you may already be familiar with Torbreck, the Australian winery in Barossa, and named one of the World's Top 100 Wine Estates by Robert Parker. Founded by David Powell in 1994 the winery is named after a forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack. His vision was to make Rhone wines in Australia and mainly used Rhone grapes including red grapes Shiraz, Grenache and Mataro as well as white grapes Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne.
In 2013 Powell left Torbreck in order to work on other ventures. Torbreck continues to source much of its fruit from selected growers from throughout the Barossa Valley, but has increased its own vineyard holdings (the Hillside Vineyard in Lyndoch and the estate Descendant Vineyard adjacent to the winery's cellar door).
The Society proudly presents
The Torbreck Evening at Alba 1836
Date: 4th March 2015 (Wednesday)
Venue: Alba 1836 Italian Wine Bar & Restaurant
28 Duxton Hill
Singapore 089610
Tel: 6222 2048
Time: Aperitif – 7:30pm
Dinner – 8:00pm
Price: S$160 (Members); S$200 (Guests)
Dress Code – Smart Casual
Limited to 30 pax
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Scallops carpaccio served with black truffle, raw baby zucchini in olive oil and lemon juice with a special truffle sauce
Carpaccio di capesante marinate, crudo di zucchine mignon, tartufo e la sua salsa
Steading Blanc 2013 (Rousanne Viognier Marsanne)
Seared Foie Gras, pickled wild mushrooms, Moscato wine reduction, roasted onion marmalade and Maldon salt
Fegato d'oca scottato servito con marmellata di cipolla all'alloro, fughetti chiodini all'agretto e riduzione di moscato d'Asti
Steading 2010 (Grenache, Shiraz & Mataro)
Home made fresh ravioli agnolotti stuffed with burrata cheese and black truffle with ossobuco ragout sauce
Ravioli agnolotti al ripieno di burrata e tartufo Nero in salsa e ragu di ossobuco
Descendant 2007 (Shiraz)
Factor 2007 (Shiraz)
Roasted lamb loin in a Sardinian Pecorino cheese crust, served with stewed artichokes “Cacciatora” style, with
Shallots and lamb sauce
Filetto d’agnello arrosto in crosta di pecorino Sardo con salsa di agnello allo scalogno e carciofi stufati alla cacciatora.
Runrig 2006 (Shiraz) Runrig 2009 (Shiraz)
Sicilian “Cannoli” stuffed with sweet ricotta cheese, candied orange,
Chocolate shavings in a Marsala flavored Cannolo served with pistachio ice cream from Bronte.
Cannoli Siciliani mignon serviti con gelato al pistacchio di Bronte.
Bothie 2012 (Muscat Blanc)
Short write-up on the wines to be served:
Steading Blanc (formerly known as "Rousanne Marsanne Viognier") is sourced entirely from the Descendant Vineyard planted in 1994 on Roennfeldt Road. The 55% Roussanne 25% Marsanne 20% Viognier blend is made from components harvested separately, with Marsanne and Viognier aging on lees in seasoned (used) barriques for seven months and the Roussanne evolving in stainless steel. The varieties are married just prior to bottling.
Steading is a blend of 60% Grenache, 20% Shiraz, and 20% Mataro, all sourced from some 45 different vineyard sites from throughout the Barossa Valley. Each block was fermented and aged separately for 24 months in neutral French hogshead barrels. It's an homage to Chateauneuf-du-Pape. On a highland farm, the collection of barns, stables, and outbuildings is known as a Steading.
Descendant is produced from grapes grown on the winery property from vines planted in 1994 from cuttings selected from several of the vineyards that provide fruit for RunRig. The Shiraz is and Viognier are co-fermented (usual blend is 92% Shiraz, 8% Viognier) and the wine is aged in neutral (ex-RunRig) barrels for 18 months before bottling. "Descendant" is named in honor of the donor vines that provided the cuttings for this vineyard.
The Factor shares many of its old vine fruit sources with RunRig. Made from 100% Shiraz, it spends 24 months in a combination of new and neutral French oak. The manager on a Scottish highland estate is known as The Factor.
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 of Australian Wine at the "Excellent" level and was named one of Australia's 25 "benchmark" wines by Wine Spectator magazine. The RunRig has had an unprecedented string of exceptional scores from The Wine Advocate, with no vintage scoring less than 95 points since the 1995 vintage, and no fewer than seven vintages of RunRig achieving a score of 99 points.
The Bothie is a semi-sweet dessert wine made from Muscat à Petit Grains from John Nietschke's Ebeneezer vineyard. The grapes are harvested in several stages to achieve different levels of ripeness and a small amount of spirit is added to the fermenting wine to arrest the yeasts against further activity and raise the alcohol level to around 14 percent. When on a hike in Scotland, the place you stop to rest and refresh yourself is called a Bothie thus this wine's name.
