(2022) With fewer than 3,000 bottles produced this is a blend of Torres best Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot from their Agulladolç vineyard, matured for 18 months in new French oak barrels. Deep ruby to crimson in colour, the nose is suffused with black fruits and spices, a graphite and cedar quality, a little hint of olive herbaceousness adding a lovely elegance and lift. In the mouth there is plenty of creamy, firm, quality oak giving a light balsamic touch to the copious black fruit. That sweet fruit flood the mid-palate, before ripe, fine but firm tannins and excellent, very natural feeling acidity gives balance. A very classy rendition of Bordeaux style, done with great aplomb.
(2022) A blend of indigenous, historic varieties Garró and Querol, rehabilitated by Torres, plus Garnacha, Cariñena and Monastrell from slate soils, aged in all new French oak. A deep, liquorice and firm blue/black fruit nose of damson and blueberry, a supple creaminess is evident. On the palate wonderfully ripe and sweet black fruit fills the mouth, silky and layered with such fine, creamy tannins and juicy plum and raspberry acidity. Delicious and age-worthy.
(2022) A single vineyard wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon that has long been the signature of Torres' ultra-premium range, first made in 1970. The wine is a vineyard selection of fruit, fermented in stainless steel tanks and oak foudres, then aged for 18 months in French oak barrels, 60% new oak. It's a very fragrant cassis-laden Cabernet, a sense of polish and precision, the oak taut and adding gloss rather than any overt toast or smokiness. There's a subtle hint of more herbaceous olive. Beautifully ripe and mouth-filling fruit, but there is a welcome touch of austerity too, with vivid acidity and fine but gripping tannins giving a firm texture which, against the succulent black fruit, builds spicy tension in the finish. Very good and cellar-worthy.
(2022) From a single vineyard of 80-year-old Cariñena and Garnacha vines, this spent 16 months in French oak barrels. Fabulous nose, with a certain lift of liquorice and intense blueberry fruit, smoothed by some fine and creamy, polished oak aromas. In the mouth it is a similar picture: there is such intensity here, that incisive bite of blue/black fruit, swirling bittersweet flavours, and a wonderful integration of tight-grained tannins, beautifully poised acidity and the oak adding a velvety layer as a cushion that softens the edges and broadens those intense flavours.
(2022) Partial fermentation in oak barrels for this blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir which spent a full four years on the lees (disgorged January 2020). It has 5g/l of dosage. Pale gold in colour, there's so much biscuit and a light almond sheen of nuttiness, a little salty, briney freshness and good, zesty citrus aromas. In the mouth a very satisfying vintage cuvée, despite the low dosage it is filled with ripe and succulent fruit, but the delicate nuttiness, earthiness and that saline character does not falter, the fruit sweetness balanced by a very fine line of acidity.
(2022) A cool start to the growing season slowed development, but summer conditions were good, a rapid cooling in March aslo allowing extended hang-time. 76% Cab in this vintage, with 20% Malbec and 4% Petit Verdot. Nineteen months in French oak, 61% new. A very perfumed, green herb and olive-touched character, bright and lifted with black fruit and a light balsamic glaze, fresh and fragrant. Very pure and attractive black fruit, but it retains that savoury, lightly salty olive and fennel note, oak spices, a touch of chocolaate, and very pure but firm tannins and acids. The sweetness of the fruit really builds on the mid-palate, finishing savoury and long.
(2021) Torres' premium Chardonnay wine comes from their high altitude vineyards in Conca de Barbera in Penedes. There is beautiful poise here, just the merest background hint of mineral flint, but a succulent but controlled fruit ripeness and fat lemon rind quality. On the palate a similarly poised and elegant character, the fruit ripe but clean, dry and savoury, a touch of almond oak just adding weight against the tangy and fresh acidity.
(2021) Made from 100% Pinot Noir, this cuvée spent two years on the lees and has a dosage of 6.3g/l. It was disgorged on 6th August 2020. Very fine, pale peachy-pink, with small and moderately persistent bubbles, the nose offers plenty of summer-pudding fruits, almond creaminess but a nice tensioning element of bracken and briar. In the mouth lots of tart but also sweet raspberry and redcurrant, but the long lees-ageing adds a light biscuity layer beneath, and the acidity keeps it fresh and focused, dry but elegant on the finish.
(2021) From ungrafted vines planted in 1990 on terra rossa over limestone, this matured for 18 months in Sylvain and Taransaud oak, "very fine tight grain Château Barriques," 66% of which were new. Wonderfully opulent mint chocolate nose, a humbug ripeness and creaminess, relatively straightforward but such a deep and lush aroma. Creamy, mouth-filling, supple black fruit and the mocha-chocolate density of the wine floods the palate, full-bodied and ripe. Quintessential Coonawarra Cab, the strong but creamy tannins and ripe acidity barely interrupting the flow. Price and stockist quoted are for a different vintage at time of review.
