Robert Mackie

9.9

Another absolutely delicious drop — 5 years ago

K S

9.7

Barefoot Winter Blend-Limited Seasonal
Blackberry & Vanilla smooth drinking with every food or nothing. Pinot Noir only other Barefoot I'll drink!
W/Lark @ Molly's Liquor Open house in Rockford.
We both really liked! 13.5%
We both liked this seasonal blend! — 6 years ago

Aaron Tan

9.0

Ogier's Cote Rotie seems to come to mind when I tasted this. Riper of course, but still showing elegance. Bright with just the right amount of oak, silky tannins. Impressive Barossa shiraz - will need to try a bottle to confirm.

Note: Gary Walsh awarded this 95 points suggesting that this release reminded him, “of how Rockford Basket Press used to taste.” — 7 years ago

Laura Rodgers

9.0

Surprisingly lovely and not too sweet. — 7 years ago

Trevor Maskell

9.1

Young and focused. Brilliant grapefruit and pithy flavours. So much tension from this old vine beauty. Will age for a long time, cork willing. — 8 years ago

Brash Higgins

8.9

Has become Bretty in the bottle, reminiscent of the Rockford Brett as my friend Erin spotted. It does blow off, initially masking the fruit. Cracker w braised lamb shoulder and salsa verde. — 8 years ago

Fiona Li

9.4

Favorite Rose as usual, easy to drink. Suitable to drink in any seasons. Best wine to start with before anything else. — 9 years ago

Bob McDonald

9.3

Rich full silky with plum notes. Long and intense. Many of these premium Barossa shirazes have a sameness about them. I would love to see a group of professionals taste say this Amon Ra, stonewell, Hanisch and Rockford Basket Press and talk about the differences? Many others could be added to this list with a similar flavour profile. 18. — 9 years ago

with Georgina

Henry Grunzweig

9.3

Delicious. Fruity, powerful, tannin-y — 6 years ago

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

On the nose, boysenberries, olallieberries, blueberries, blackberries, baking spices, dry powdery soils, dry stems, bramble and bright, fresh, fragrant purple florals. The palate is warm, lush, round and elegant. Tannins 65% resolved. It's still fairly big and very fresh. Palate fruits are; boysenberries, olallieberries, blueberries, blackberries, black raspberries and raspberries haunting the background. Lifting warm spices, black pepper, black licorice, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, dry crushed rocks, volcanic minerals with liqueur notes settling in at the mid point to the long finish. Dry stones, dry straw, tarry notes, violets, purple florals and palate raining acidity. The finish is long with good balance of fruit & earth. There's still nice tension, length and structure. The 05 still has another 7-10 years of good drinking ahead. As great as it was to be at the property tasting their new releases, it's a pleasure to enjoy one of their well aged wines back in the states. Photos of; the view from the new estate (love that red Barossa soil), tasting bar, Andrew Tierney, Torbreck International Sales Ambassador who hosted our visit(left) and Owner, David Powell (right). Producer history and notes...Torbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in 1994. Before founding Torbreck, he worked for Robert O'Callaghan at Rockford Wines in the Barossa Valley. Rockford is an historic old winery and they love old historic wine relics...all you have to do is walk the property. In trying to start his own label, David lacked the funds to buy grapes outright. So, David began to share-farm a vineyard, a practice which involves working without pay until the grapes are sold, at which time the owner is paid a percentage of the market rate for his grapes and the share-farmer keeps the grapes for their own use. The share-farming principle or as we call it, sweat equity. This enabled Torbreck to obtain fruit from the very best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, while giving David Powell experience working in the vineyard and winery. In 1995 Powell crushed and fermented his grapes in a shed on his 12-hectare Marananga property; which continues to be home to the winery. The winery was named "Torbreck" after the forest in Scotland where Powell worked as a lumberjack. The first wine made under the Torbreck label was the 1995 RunRig. When it was released in 1997, Parker gave it a score of 95; which went a long way in launching Torbreck Vintners. Lisa, now Managing Editor at Robertparker.com raised that score to 98 in 2010. In late 2002, Torbreck was placed into receivership due to financial pressures on Powell from a divorce settlement. Torbreck was purchased by Australian businessman Jack Cowin for 6.5 million Australian dollars with Powell retained as winemaker and managing director. In 2008 Powell reacquired the estate in partnership with Peter Kight, the owner of Quivira Winery in Sonoma County's Dry Creek Valley in California. Torbreck produces around 70,000 cases of wine per year, depending on vintage conditions. 6.5 million Australian dollars is not a lot of money in today's environment...actually quite a deal. They had just completed their new facilities as shown in the photos two weeks prior to our visit in April. If you haven't had their wines, their lower price wines are very good at great values. Torbreck makes everything up to their high end RunRig at $300 plus a bottle with lots of quality wines in between that are really quite good and value priced vs. the rest of international market. — 7 years ago

Phoebe Lowe

9.5

Absolute delight. Deep berries and currants. Very fruity yet balanced with earthy minerals and light tannins. Great food wine with white meats and medium intensity flavours. Couldn't stop drinking this! — 8 years ago

Andrew Whittle

Co-Owner/Director Summit Estate Wines

9.4

2008 vintage - a Chris Ringland wine - a beautifully balanced Barossa shiraz - some very Rockford notes - highly recommended! — 9 years ago

Travis W

9.1

A lovely aged GSM. On opening it looked a little shrill but after 15 minutes in the glass it started to open up beautifully. Fully integrated tannins. Drink now. — 9 years ago

Ceccherini Cristiano

9.4

Old vines, basket pressed.
Wow, this is a big wine, but the elegance and the balance are impressive
Huge intensity on the nose
Tasting it you can hardly feel it’s 15,5%
The flavour is immense
Fruit yes, but the focus is on liquorice and aniseed
Super fresh and quite tannic to be an Oz Shiraz . Never ending finish
Tasted just after a Basket Press 2001 Rockford I’d say this has more to say in the future when Rockford was more enjoyable now. Two great Oz wines anyway. At least another 10 years to go...I’d be curious — 6 years ago

with Mauro

David T

Independent Sommelier/Wine Educator

9.3

This vines were planted in 1945 that go into this wine. The VP is fortified with 12 year old wood age brandy. On the nose, blackberries rise dominantly in Port fashion, black cherry, blueberries, anise, tar and dry dark florals. On the palate, porty blue fruits, black licorice, tarry notes, violets, molasses, brown sugar, toffee dark nuts, orange peel, marmalade, dried; blackberries, blueberries & dark cherries, dry red floral bouquet and violets. It's thick, rich and delicious! Very different from other Ports and facsimiles thereof. — 7 years ago

Nicole N

9.5

Absolutely lovely. Perfect balance. Luscious and full on the front, but without being overripe. Peppery in the middle. Lingering finish. If only there were a way to get more! — 7 years ago

K S

9.6

Sunday 1/2 price wine bottles $10.00 @ Country Cafe in Rockford! Very tasty.....like a Zin! — 7 years ago

Michael Hildebrand

9.7

From magnum. Great secondary! Dusty, funky awesome — 8 years ago

Louis Schofield

Sommelier/Wine Merchant East End Cellars

8.9

Oak was playing a bit too much of a part — 8 years ago

Matthew Phillips

9.6

Quince, super sweet and rich. Amazing jammy nose. — 9 years ago