Torbreck

Torbreck is an Australian winery in the Barossa Valley, founded by David Powell in 1994. The winery was named one of the World's Top 100 Wine Estates by Robert Parker. 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 and Mataro as well as white grapes Viognier, Roussanne and Marsanne.HistoryTorbreck Vintners was founded by David Powell in 1994. He had begun working for Robert "Rocky" O'Callaghan at Rockford Wines in the Barossa Valley several years prior to that and had discovered a few sections of dry-grown old vines. that had been abandoned by their current owner because the yields were considered too low to pay for their maintenance.Inspired to create his own label, but lacking sufficient capital for an outright purchase of grapes, Powell began to share-farm the 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 (see Sweat Equity). The share-farming principle enabled Torbreck to obtain fruit from the very best vineyards in the Barossa Valley, while at the same time giving Powell practical experience working with old vines in the vineyard and winery.