2022 Torbreck 'Les Amis' Grenache

20 Points - Matthew Dukes, matthewjukes.com

“While I have always admired Les Amis, it has never hit the high notes in my reviews, preferring the elegance, openness and immediacy of Hillside. While Les Amis has always packed a punch, it has often felt a little ponderous and heavy-handed. All this has changed in 2022. This is a mobile, swirling, dynamic wine with a superbly suave onslaught of fruit, accompanied by gorgeous spice and earthiness. This is a toned, rippling Les Amis and its bass amp throbs away while Transylvanian hearth notes spread moments of fear and reverence. There is a decent slug of whole bunch action (around 20%), and with Stockinger oak employed, the finest carpentry caress is guaranteed. This is a more open and conversational Les Amis, and I am thrilled to say that it still possesses a hint of malevolence throughout, which keeps the pulse ticking over!”

94 Points - Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate

“The 2022 Les Amis Grenache is from a dry-grown Grenache vineyard, at around 320 meters in elevation, with blue stone, schist and ironstone on a bedrock of clay. Perfume and aromatic lift define the wines made from this place. It matured in small casks, with 30% to 40% new oak. The wine is rich, chocolaty, dense and fulsome, with dry savory spice and a variety of deli meats on the palate. It's a powerhouse of a wine, all gnarled muscle and gravelly length, accurately underpinned by pomegranate, wet garden rose and ferruginous tannins. 15% alcohol, sealed under natural cork and wax.”