2023 Torbreck Les Amis Grenache, Barossa Valley

Made from 1960s-planted Grenache, this is a serious, super-concentration wine with more than a touch of Gandalf’s pipe on the nose! Only 100 cases were made, and it is the darkest and most cosmic wine I have tasted under this label. This is a fabulous, single-site, dry-grown vineyard with super-low yields. There is a deeply foresty wine with incredible DNA, and the palate is bloody, ferrous, complex and herbal. There is a deep, dark chocolate and cherry-red ganache rebound of flavour on the finish, making this sylvan creation decadent, too.

19+/20 Matthew Jukes

One of the endearing things about the old-time growers in the Barossa is they pronounce grenache like this – 'green-ash'. I love that. I also love this wine. Wonderfully pure dark and red plum, raspberry and cranberry fruit tones with a veil of exotic spice, pomegranate, citrus blossom, tamarind, gingerbread, dried citrus rinds, charcuterie, a wisp of blood orange and distant flowering herbs and crushed stone. There's space and light there, but there's also a depth and latent power without sacrificing detail and line. Structure, too, with a fine chalky grip, a sapid mineral line and a flair of blood orange on the exit. Super!

96+ points Dave Brookes for Halliday Wine Companion, August 2026

Medium crimson. Strawberry, hint apricot, stone fruit, with hints of tobacco leaf. Concentrated strawberry, redcurrant, stone fruit, aniseed flavours, some graphite/chalky, ferruginous textures, a hint of vanilla, roasted almond, and underlying crisp acidity. Lovely complexity, vinosity and flow. Drink to 2040.

96 points Andrew Caillard and Jeni Port for The Vintage Journal

Devigorated soils, western Greenock. Grenache. Nice weight and freshness with red cherry and redcurrant fruit, with a core of sweet fruit. Nice crunch here with a peppery edge to the herb-tinged fruit.

94 points Jamie Goode for Wine Anorak, May 2026

The 2023 Les Amis Grenache is the highest in elevation of the three single-vineyard Grenache vineyards. It is planted on bluestone and ironstone gravels in clay soils, and the vines were planted recently—some time in the 1980s. The vineyard is exposed and the soils shallow, so the vines work hard here. In the mouth, this is spicy and medium-bodied, with an attractive freshness that has nothing to do with the ripeness nor, upon questioning, the pH or total acidity, as the numbers relate pretty similarly to the other Grenache wines on the bench. The cooler, wetter season may play a part. In short, this is a lovely wine!

94 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, April 2026

The fruit for the Les Amis comes from the Slade Vineyard, a sandy, dry grown Greenock site with an easterly aspect that was planted in 1901. The name translates as The Friends and is a nod to the growers and relationships that make these rare, small batches of wine possible. The cool, drawn out and low yielding vintage has produced a superb rendition of the wine, with bright colours and natural freshness.