2018 Torbreck The Steading GSM Magnum 1.5L, Barossa Valley

Deep red/purple colour. The bouquet is likewise bright, fresh, clean and attractive, loaded with blackberry flavours and intense palate flavour, medium to full-bodied and with a nice touch firmness to the tannin grip. This has real depth of flavour, richness, and plenty of oomph. Fruit-sweet core is typical of the vintage. Drink to 2033.

94 points Huon Hooke for The Real Review, February 2020

A rich and decadent red with roasted meat and plums with an earthy undertone. Bark. Some cooked fruit. Full and pepper at the finish. Soft and round tannined. Juicy. 

92 points James Suckling, October 2022

Ripe, round and supple, Torbreck's 2018 The Steading is foudre aged, so the oak signature is minimal. Mixed cherries and berries abound, mixing in hints of caramel, plus more savory notes of dried herbs, espresso and black olives. Medium to full-bodied, it's soft and easy to drink, but it has enough concentration to drink well for several more years. Drink to 2026.

92 points Joe Czerwinski for The Wine Advocate, July 2021

Highland farms in Scotland refer to the collection of barns, stables and outbuildings on a property as a Steading. The components in this wine could have stood as individual wines but blending them has created a more complex wine with a solid, earthy structure.

The 2018 Steading is then a 53/28/19 blend of Grenache, Shiraz and Mataro from 40- to 150-year-old vines across Gomersal, Lyndoch, Greenock, Moppa, Marananga, Seppeltsfield and Ebenezer. Handpicked in the first half of April, the destemmed fruit was fermented in small open-top fermenters, with the wine basket pressed into large, well-seasoned 4,500L foudre oak barrels for a 20-month maturation on fine lees. The wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.

About this producer

Torbreck Vintners was established by Dave Powell in 1994, and from the very beginning, the wines have been no stranger to drama of the very best kind: high international acclaim driven by their power and sense of place.

The focus has always been on respectful treatment of old vine Barossa fruit through traditional winemaking. Today Chief Winemaker Ian Hongell continues that philosophy, working with growers across the region for access to supplement the special parcels of fruit grown in estate vineyards as well as those grown under custodianship through long-term lease agreements of old vine sites.