2005 Les Amis

(100% grenache) Deep, saturated ruby color. Drop-dead gorgeous aromas of red berry liqueur, cherry-cola, incense and fresh lavender expand with air, taking on smoky mineral and Asian spice qualities. Deeply concentrated raspberry and blackberry compote flavors are enlivened by vibrant minerality and framed by velvety tannins. An extremely sexy wine that leaves an endless finish of berries, kirsch and candied flowers behind. This is already awfully compelling.

Drank next to a 2003 Pegau, the 2005 Torbreck Grenache Les Amis seemed amazingly clean, pure and elegant with seamless integration and balance. The nose has soaring aromatics and shows fabulously sweet raspberry and blueberry fruit, spice, vanilla and integrated oak aromas and comes across as very clean and fruit driven but not even close to over the top. Full bodied and perfectly built, this shows sweet fruit, amazing concentration, awesome balance and a huge, blockbuster finish.

The 2005 Les Amis, sourced from a 100+-year-old vineyard, is 100% Grenache aged for 18 months in new oak. Remarkably fragrant, it emits full-throttle aromas of spice box, kirsch, wild raspberry, and blackberry liqueur. Plush on the palate, it reveals layers of rich, red and black berry flavors, ripe tannin, and a 60-second, pure finish. Although it can be admired now, the wine merits 6-8 years of further bottle aging to reveal all of its splendors. This sensational effort could easily masquerade as Pegau Cuvee de Capo on human growth hormone. Torbreck, under the leadership of owner/winemaker David Powell, remains a Barossa Valley benchmark as well as one of the world’s greatest wine estates. The top cuvees are limited production and expensive but there are also some outstanding values in the portfolio. With regard to the current vintages for the Barossa red wines, David Powell states “? 2004 is more savory while 2005 has more purity and definition. 2004 is more classic, 2005 will take longer to come around.” Importer: Jon Elkins, The Australian Wine Connection, Carlsbad, CA; www.torbreck.com