2020 RunRig, Torbreck, Barossa Valley

Tasting the RunRig beside the Descendant is always a wise move, in order to gain some contextual understanding of how they are similar and, perhaps more importantly, how they differ. This 2020 RunRig was sourced from six different vineyards across Barossa (in Lyndoch, Rowland Flat, Moppa, Ebenezer, Light Pass and Greenock) and includes a 2% "dosage" (as winemaker Ian Hongell described it) of Viognier. Matured for 30 months in a combination of new French oak (50%) and second and third fill barrels, the wine rests on its lees for that time. The lower percentage of Viognier here is a seductive and effective thing, adding just enough slick and polish to make this the sybaritic wine that it is, but little enough to allow the grunt, grit and muscle of the Shiraz from all those glorious locations to shine through. Despite the very long time in oak, the wine is balanced and excellent, big in almost every possible way but with an undeniable sense of class and length of flavor. Executed with detail and precision, this wine is clearly defined in its expression of house style

I have tasted (and bought) this wine back to the 1996 vintage, so I am familiar with its mood swings and changeable temperament. In 2020 Runrig is an MMA thoroughbred with an awe-inspiring power-to-weight ratio and a brooding, ever-so-slightly scary degree of intensity balanced by cathedral-like calm. This is the finest ever young Runrig I have tasted, and if you fancy another tenuous mental image, then this is the darkest of night skies with no moon in evidence at all. You cannot even see your hand in front of your face, and when you taste this wine, it seems like it is the only wine in the world. Unlike The Factor, it is closed, commanding, immovable and allencompassing, but there are the very first hints of pliability and tenderness appearing along its flanks. When this wine starts to unwind, it will undoubtedly reveal more chapters of fruit than any Runrig before it and I imagine it will run for decades such is its pedigree. If any wine in this line-up left me breathless, it is 2020 Runrig.