1998 The Steading

One thing that was clear in tasting the Torbreck wines was not only the brilliance of his top Shiraz cuvee, the Run Rig, but the fact that his Chateauneuf du Pape look-alike from the Barossa, The Steading, needs to be drunk in its first 5-6 years of life. The 1998 The Steading (78% Grenache, 20% Mourvedre, and 10% Shiraz) still exhibits a healthy dark ruby color, but the fruit seems to be drying out. It reveals lots of pepper, earth, herbs, and spice, but the sweetness of the fruit seems to be somewhat attenuated, and the finish is short as well as sharp. In any event, this is a wine to drink in its exuberant youth. Torbreck’s flagship wine, the Run Rig, is made from 40- to 120-year-old Shiraz vines with some co-fermented Viognier (usually around 3%), tips the scales between 14-15% alcohol, and is aged 30 months in French oak. In contrast to the way they taste upon release, neither the 1998 or 1997 Run Rig revealed any oak.