Torzi Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz 2021

"Australia's best bargain winemaker. A producer of beautiful honest wines from the Barossa."  Philip White

Torzi Matthews is located in a small, remote, frost prone hollow at Mt McKenziein in the Eden Valley. The vineyard sits at an elevation of 380m and produces low yields of high quality fruit. The Frost Dodger Shiraz is Torzi Matthews' flagship red, a single vineyard Shiraz crafted by winemaker Dominic Torzi using the traditional Italian appassimento method, where the grapes are dried on racking to concentrate the flavours. The 2021 vintage is the 13th release of this limited release Shiraz.

"So silken, so encompassing. Such an engrossing, plump profile, punctuated by coffee grounds. yet with nuances, then dry, muscular, yet silken to finish. What a sensual Shiraz of power and texture for very fair dollars. I dip my lid. Good now, likely good in a decade too. Would I buy it? Unquestionably."  Andrew Graham

Fruit for the Frost Dodger Shiraz is sourced from the Mt McKenzie estate vineyard and crafted using the traditional appassimento method, most commonly employed in northeast Italy. The grapes are handpicked and laid out on drying trays for 14 days in the vineyard. The drying process concentrates the flavours and sugars in the grapes, resulting in a more intensely aromatic wine with an extra layer of interest and concentration and a silky mouthfeel.

" A deliciously generous complex shiraz bursting with deep aromatics, blue fruits with black cherry. Flavours are full and dark of blue fruits, cherry choc little savoriness with great tannin structure. The hand harvested shiraz fruit was gently destemmed including 20% whole bunch into open top milk vats and fermented naturally with soft pump overs, and basket pressed to barrel to complete ferment. 30% new French oak hogshead barrels with balance of seasoned 3yr old French hogshead barrels for 14 months. Bottled unfined and unfiltered."  Torzi Matthews

Expert reviews

"I was captivated from the first sniff, with sweet fruited berries, spices, oak, coffee grounds and herbs leaping out of the glass. The palate doesn't disappoint, a compelling mix of glossy blue fruits, black cherries, coffee, spices and mint. Wonderful texture and silken mouthfeel thanks to the appassimento dry racking. Sensual and delicious."  Nick Munday, Canterbury Wines - 95 points and Special Value Wine  ★ 

"Indeed, this Torzi Matthews Frost Dodger Shiraz 2021 is black-fruited, luscious, enveloping, yet not overwrought. I don’t see any of the heat or volatility of Amarone, for example, so you can probably discount extended fruit drying. You don’t see the 20% whole bunches either. There is a caramelised dark berry concentration though, all chocolate soaked small berries. But it’s not obvious, and it all retains some Eden Valley mint.

At every point you expect the palate to be boozy, hot, desiccated. But it stays so silken, so encompassing, almost like a Choc Wheaten (rich on the outside, dry in the middle). I don’t know how much new oak either, but the appassimento amplifies it – more richness, more caramel. Such an engrossing, plump profile, punctuated by coffee grounds. yet with nuances, then dry, muscular, yet silken to finish. What a sensual Shiraz of power and texture for very fair dollars. I dip my lid. Best drinking: good now, likely good in a decade too. Would I buy it? Unquestionably."  Andrew Graham, Australian Wine Review - 95 points

Awards

Special Value Wine – Canterbury Wines  ★ 

About the winery

Torzi Matthews is a partnership between Dominic Torzi and Tracy Matthews who both share a passion for crafting fine wines that express their birthplace. Domenic is fifth generation Calabrian and grew up on the Adelaide Plains working for the family’s market gardens. Tracy was born and raised in Newcastle and had a long career in hospitality.

In 1996 they stumbled across a small, remote, frost prone hollow at Mt McKenziein in the Eden Valley. They believed the diverse thin soils would produce low yields of high quality fruit that would allow them to produce flavoursome European style wines.

The vines went in, the frosts came and the yields were low. The wines are crafted using non-interventional Italian/European techniques such as hand harvesting, fruit drying, gentle extraction, whole bunch natural ferments, basket pressing and maturation in fine grained French oak barrels.