Torbreck
"The Factor" Shiraz
Barossa Valley
2016

The producer

Torbreck is one of the Barossa Valley’s most acclaimed producers, known for its powerful, Rhône-inspired wines crafted from some of the region’s oldest and most storied vineyards. Founded in 1994 by David Powell, the winery takes its name from a Scottish forest where he once worked, reflecting a deep respect for nature and tradition.

With a focus on Shiraz, Grenache, and Mataro, Torbreck champions dry-grown, old-vine fruit, often from vines over a century old. Traditional winemaking techniques including open fermentation, basket pressing, and aging in large-format French oak are used to preserve the integrity and character of each vineyard. The result is a range of wines that are rich, expressive, and deeply rooted in the Barossa’s unique terroir.

The wine

The Factor is Torbreck’s tribute to the Barossa Valley’s growers the custodians of some of the oldest Shiraz vines on the planet. Sourced from a collection of dry-grown, low-yielding vineyards across the north-western Barossa, many over a century old, this wine reflects the immense power, concentration, and complexity that define the region’s most revered sites.

The vineyards are rooted in a mix of ancient soils — deep red clay, ironstone, and sandy loam contributing structure and depth to the wine. Torbreck employs traditional, minimal-intervention techniques: hand harvesting, open-top fermentation, gentle basket pressing, and aging in a combination of seasoned French oak barriques and larger format foudres.

In the glass, The Factor reveals dense layers of black plum, mulberry, and blueberry compote, interwoven with notes of smoked meats, graphite, star anise, and earthy spice. Full-bodied and firmly structured, it delivers rich, mouth-coating tannins balanced by a vibrant core of acidity, finishing with lingering notes of dark chocolate, black olive, and warm spice. A commanding yet refined expression of old-vine Barossa Shiraz.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.