In the early 1980s, due to lack of demand, the government paid incentives to growers to rip out their vines and gut some of Australia's most precious old vineyards. The movement to cool climate viticulture made the Barossa, of all places, look rather irrelevant. The Factor is Torbreck's salutation to those dedicated growers who stood by their vines and continue to painstakingly produce small harvests of the most splendid Shiraz. A wine of immense concentration and great purity of fruit that only the most meticulous husbanding of vines can achieve.

$14999each $1799DOZEN EACH DOZEN The experience with old vines Shiraz began after a discovery of derelict sites around the Barossa. David Powell took an interest and nursed them back to health, he was rewarded by the proprietors with small parcels of fruit which he made into wine. The formula has served to produce profound efforts which are recognized as some of Australia's most distinguished wines. Parcels of Shiraz on old dry grown vineyards at Gomersal and Kalimna, Rowland Flat, Ebenezer and Marananga are selected for their quality and individual charm, separately vinified and matured up to two years in a selection of new and seasoned French oak barriques, followed by assemblage and bottling without fining or filtration.

Deep scarlet with robes of tawny red. Delicate scents of wild blackberries, pipe smoke and pepper are supported by a dark core of espresso roast, black currants and coal. The nose expresses soil, earth and vinuous tones of vibrant black jelly fruit. The palate offers tremendous texture and combines great richness with subtle notes of olive tapenade, saddle leather and mineral. Brooding and densely packed, this majestic wine continues to slowly unravel its extravagant riches.

Before David Powell took on the task of raiding Barossa vineyards, he spent several years on the Scottish Highlands as a lumberjack in the Torbreck forest. Woodcutter Shiraz is a highly approachable introduction to the Torbreck range, featuring fruit from some of the up and coming vineyards, rather than the battle hardened old warriors which make up the heart and soul of the Torbreck winelist. This is the kind of red the winemaker himself liked to drink with a hearty meal after a hard day's work in the wood, but you don't have to be a woodcutter to enjoy it.

$2999each $359DOZEN EACH DOZEN From good vineyards at Greenock and Marananga, Seppeltsfield, Gomersal, Moppa, Lyndoch and Kalimna, hand tended by the Barossa's most capable growers. Low yielding, old, dry grown vines are the cornerstone of Torbreck. Manual winemaking methods and minimal intervention are combined o produce a profound style. The growers have been selected for the uniqueness of their site and spartan approach to viticulture. The focus at Torbreck wines is on the vineyards, not the winery. Woodcutter is fermented in steel, wood and cement vats over the course of a week, basket pressed to well seasoned hogsheads and French oak foudres for a year, bottled without fining or filtration.

Dark scarlet colour. Sweet boysenberry and candied plum, floral oils and cured meat on the nose, a refreshing mineral tone. Blackberry and raspberry, cherry and licorice, peppery aromas soar from the glass of this opulent, voluptuously textured Shiraz. Boasting superb purity, intensity and length, juicy and nicely balanced with an attractive interplay of red and dark berry flavours given focus by crisp but not strident acidity.

$6599each $791DOZEN EACH DOZEN

$2299each $275DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Established 1847 by Johann August Frederick Fiedler, much of the credit for the finest Shiraz in the world is due to old vines such as Turkey Flat. Dry grown and gnarled, their roots extend metres into the soil in search of moisture. That they still exist is largely due to a far sighted quarantine scheme, as South Australia was spared the phylloxera outbreak which devastated vineyards around the world in the late 1800s. After five generations of stewardship by the Schulz family, a small parcel of fruit from the original 1847 vines is bottled as a superior vintage release.

$19799each $2375DOZEN EACH DOZEN The historic Turkey Flat property, located within Section One of the Hundred of Moorooroo, is planted to rich, alluvial soils, adjacent to Bethany Creek at Tanunda. The site was sold to Gottlieb Ernst Schulz in 1865, a successful butcher who established a thriving retail business among the vines. Butchering developed into dairying, but the vineyards were always kept, until Peter and Christie Schulz made the transition from fruit growing to winemaking. The distinctive script on the Ancestor label is drafted from the 1888 Schulz family butchers ledger, discovered while restoring the Turkey Flat property in 1992.

Excellent Langtons Classification. It was at Turkey Flat, on the banks of Tanunda Creek whence bush turkeys once roamed, that pioneer Silesian settler Johann Friedrich August Fiedler planted the first Shiraz during the 1840s. The maturing vines on Section One, in the Hundred of Moorooroo, were bought in 1865 by Gottlieb Ernst Schulz, a successful butcher who established a thriving business among the vines. The Schulz family are still there and up to a fifth of the grapes in today's Turkey Flat Shiraz are picked off the gnarled old vines of 1847.

$5399each $647DOZEN EACH DOZEN Turkey Flat boasts some of the oldest Shiraz vines in the world. These living heirlooms yield wines that are floral, elegant and well structured. Grapes were harvested between March and April at complete ripeness and healthy levels of natural sugar concentration. Inoculated to bespoke strains of yeast and fermented at temperatures of 18C to 26C, juices remain on skins for up to three weeks. Cold soaking and extended macerations achieve a firm tannin structure, ensuring that the wine will continue to evolve handsomely. Turkey Flat completes full malolactic in barrel, followed by eighteen months maturation under a combination of new and prior use French oak hogsheads.

Deep purple colour. Black cherry, liquorice and savoury spice bouquet. Bright and generous, concentrated fruit, youthful yet restrained tannins in support, refreshed by lively acidity. French oak adds depth and length of flavour, supporting a palate of blackberries, cedar and nutmeg. A complex and restrained wine which benefits from decanting to reveal great purity of fruit.

$4799each $575DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Qality without compromise, industry savant Robert Parker has identified Two Hands as the finest negociant operation south of the equator. The Two Hands are within easy reach of the finest harvests from the Barossa's most wonderful old vineyards. Bella's Garden is assembled after a rigorous determination of the best barrels of maturing Two Hands Barossa Shiraz. Densely coloured, almost black in colour, it exudes powerful bouquets, ripe plum and succulent blackberry flavours, laced by wisps of cedar and spice.

$6699each $803DOZEN EACH DOZEN A Mediterranean microclimate surrounds the Two Hands vineyards, forming the perfect conditions for growing and ripening the finest quality fruit, to be vinified into generously flavoured, full bodied, flagship Barossa Shiraz. Grapes are de-stemmed, crushed and vinified in a mix of open top fermenters, pumped over thrice daily during the peak of ferments, to extract colour and tannin. Juices remain a fortnight days on skins before free runs are drained and pressings returned. After a day of rest, batches are filled to barrel for completion of malolactic, racked off lees, tidied up and returned to oak for eighteen months, followed by minimal fining and an unfiltered bottling.

Deep red with black/ purple hues. Aromas are vibrant and focused, the characters are continually evolving. Notes of red currant and cherry and subtle lavender, then chocolate and char, hints of creme anglaise, followed by spice, earth and rosemary. Bella's Garden is full of rich red fruits, cloves and earthy notes, supported by fine tannins and elegant oak. Generosity of fruit remains focused as it tightens to a long balanced finish.

From parcels picked off the superlative Jaensches Vineyard at Moppa, open fermented as whole berries, hand plunged over the course of ten days and basket pressed into a combination of French and American oak for malolactic and six months on gross sediments, followed by rack and return for a year and a half maturation before bottling, unfiltered and unfined. Soft and smooth, dark berry opulence over a length of seamless tannins, Albert's sound structure and exquisite balance resolving on a fine line of bright cherry acids and creamy vanilla toastyness.

$3899each $467DOZEN EACH DOZEN

Welcome the Warden, exclusively hand picked Shiraz from a small patch of vines grown to a steep hill on a southerly facing, quartz and ironstone covered slope at Moppa. The challenged old vines struggle in the inhospitable soils, managing only minimal harvests of the most intensely flavoured fruit. Grapes are treated to ten days of open ferment and basket pressed into American oak for malolactic and a year's maturation. Dark charry oak, graphite and liquorice chocolate fruits, a densely packed brute of a Shiraz, supported by waves of fine earthy tannins.

$4099each $491DOZEN EACH DOZEN

The top cut of fruit, exclusively Clone 1654, selectively picked off the superlative Westlake property at Moppa Pass. Bunches are destemmed and gently crushed, a portion of the harvest is kept as whole berries, traditionally open fermented for a fortnight, followed by a year and a half maturation in a mix of seasoned and new, French and American oak. A chewy palate of savoury chocolate characters and licorice allsorts, its penetrating, layered richness, supported by a prodigious girth of sump oil pectins, meaty reductions and dark bramble tannins.

$4999each $599DOZEN EACH DOZEN

A small Barossa site was planted to Shiraz vines and named Bonesetter Block in the 1960s. Peter Scholz selects choice parcels of fruit from this mature vineyard, carefully handling the wine before ageing in tightly grained French oak hogsheads for a little more than two years. Bonesetter exhibits the most voluptuous palate, great richness and solid structure, intense and powerful ripe fruit characters as supported by splendid tannins and stylish savoury oak. A multi layered powerhouse of a wine that will reward all lovers of grand Barossa Shiraz.

$5999each $719DOZEN EACH DOZEN The Barossa's international reputation for powerful Shiraz wines with super palate length and softness has been established by flagship efforts like Bonesetter. The Willows Vineyard ranges from deep alluvial soils, ideal for root development, to red brown loam over clay and tough sandy soils where old vines struggle to sire their fruit. The Bonesetter Block is endowed by the most favourable ripening conditions, Shiraz can be harvested at the intense end of the flavour spectrum, exhibiting deep colours and the ripest tannins. Fruit is treated to open fermenters and the traditional hand operated basket press. Two years maturation in French oak has enhances the complexity and complements the robust flesh.

Dense, vibrant colour. Very ripe nose, sweet fruit, reminiscent of plum, blackberries and pepper. The palate is generously mouthfilling, exhibiting berry and cinnamon spice flavours, along with oak derived mocha overtones and harmonious, soft yet well defined, flattering tannins. A stunning wine, with perfumed oak supporting a multi layered powerhouse of fruit.