Torbreck "Les Amis" Grenache 2021
(Barossa Valley, Australia) - [DM 95] [WA 95] [JS 94] [WS 93]

Notes from the Winemaker:
A multi layered perfume of violets, kirsch and concentrated red berry aromas with a succulent, dense and vibrant fruit intensity. The concentration, poise and elegance is perfectly balanced and typical of this unique terroir. Revealing a savoury elegance in its youth, the Les Amis will continue to build in complexity for many years to come.

VINTAGE The 2021 summer growing season was mild, with even and cool daily temperatures throughout.  Enhanced by good rains provided during the winter and spring of 2020, our vineyards grew wonderful canopies and developed well-formed grape bunches.  As a result of this long flavour development cycle in the vineyard, 2021’s signature is wines of high aromatic lift with densely coloured tints and exceptional balance.

TASTING Crimson with a brilliant hue. Immediate, aromatic red fruits such as dried raspberry, red cherry, pomegranate, red currant and cranberry. Secondary notes of Chinese five spice, sarsaparilla, star anise, cloves and petrichor, balanced by cinnamon spice and vanilla pod. The palate is sumptuous and decadent with mouth filling fruits, texture and depth finishing with cleansing acidity that elongates the finish. Old vine Grenache from tiny berries drives complexities giving full-bodied depth with firm but balanced and drying tannins that are firm and grippy and give the wine plenty of time to mature in the cellar for 10-15 years.  Serve at 16c/60F with game meats or charcuterie or Asian roast duck.  

Ratings & Reviews

95 Points - Decanter Magazine:
"The Slade vineyard in Greenock produces this atypically dense, well-structured Grenache, with a firmer acid and tannin profile than most. In a milder vintage – and with a little whole-bunch ferment – it throws long and reveals a little more of itself when, sometimes, Les Amis can feel impenetrable. Nonetheless, it retains savoury nuance, with medicinal, cough sweet herbaceousness and a touch of eucalyptus to the red-fruited, warming kirsch core." - Sarah Ahmed (Apr 2024)

95 Points - Wine Advocate: 
"The 2021 season in Barossa was ideal. It marked the end of hot and dry conditions, the yields were healthy (thanks in no small part to the healthy 2020 rains in the season leading in to the 2021 growing season), and the conditions during the 2201 growing season were mild and dry. So here, the 2021 Les Amis Grenache is exuberant, with abundant sweet red fruit, and the oak almost emphasizes the sweetness in the red fruit, with scraped vanilla pod, sweet licorice, cracked fennel and tar. This is a superb wine that, if anything, will be better in a few years from now, despite being delicious today. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork." - Erin Larkin (Sep 2025)

94 Points - James Suckling:
"Wonderfully perfumed aromas of wild blackberries, tobacco leaves, ferric earth and menthol. The palate is full-bodied with fine tannins and bright acidity, giving notes of blackcurrants, mocha and dried herbs. Powerful with an underlying freshness. Made from a dry-grown vineyard planted in the 1960s. Only 225 cases made. Drink or hold." (Oct 2024)

93 Points - Wine Spectator:
"Fragrant and expressive, with distinctive notes of kirsch and black walnut liqueur up front. Offers details of apricot preserves and salty black licorice, plus a touch of dried violet, all on a dense and fleshy frame. There's a lovely element of juicy acidity alongside toasted tobacco accents that linger. Grenache. Drink now through 2035. 150 cases made, 20 cases imported." - MaryAnn Worobiec (Dec 2024)