Torbreck The Struie / 2021 / 375mL

Description:

The Torbreck The Struie Shiraz 2021 is a Barossa Valley Shiraz in a 375mL half bottle, blended with a substantial 43 per cent Eden Valley fruit that keeps it lifted rather than heavy. Built for two people over dinner, or one glass more than a glass, it delivers the depth of a serious Barossa red without committing you to a full bottle on a weeknight.

Blackberry and blueberry lead the aromatics, with graphite, dried sage and a twist of licorice sitting behind the fruit. The 2021 growing season in the Barossa was mild and even, without heat spikes, and that shows as clarity: the fruit is ripe and dark but never jammy or cooked.

Medium to full-bodied and silky across the middle, The Struie carries fine, savoury tannins that firm up through a long, mineral-edged finish. Eighteen months in French oak, a fifth of it new, sits quietly under the fruit rather than over it. Worth noting that a half bottle evolves faster than a 750mL, so this drinks a touch more open and forward right now.

Pair it with lamb shoulder, char siu pork, a rare porterhouse with pepper sauce, or aged cheddar late in the evening.

Drinking well from now to around 2030 in this format — decant it briefly if you're opening it young.