Current Issue #488

Wine Review: Bekkers' Bewitching Grenache

Wine Review: Bekkers' Bewitching Grenache

Oh Grenache, how I love thee. Let me count the ways. Okay. You’ve got me. I’m a bit of a Grenache fanboy and why wouldn’t I be? We have an abundance of gnarled old–vine Grenache in South Australia, and a number of producers putting out wines that could proudly challenge all–comers in their ability to speak clearly of their region and site (not to mention pure drinkability).

toby-bekkers-grenache-2015-adelaide-review

The husband and wife team of Toby and Emmanuelle Bekkers is among those doing great things with the variety in McLaren Vale. A viticulturist and a winemaker, joined together in holy matrimony for the good of the grape. Three different parcels of fruit from different soils and sub–regions of McLaren Vale and a gentle hand in the cellar allow the fruit to sing.

Medium cherry–red in colour, it is impressively perfumed with pure, resonant aromas of plum and cherry along with splashes of blueberry and cranberry for good measure. Hints of cola, gingerbread, exotic spice, lavender with a musky, earthen edge.

The weight is pitch–perfect and at the lighter end of medium–bodied. It shows great detail and clarity as it glides across the palate. Fruit flavours of red and dark plum and cherry are again lifted by a hit of cranberry, along with hints of Asian spice, ginger–cake, earth, licorice, purple flowers and a slight musky edge that is bewitching.

The tension is spot on, fruit and acid in prefect balance, tannins, too, are poised just right. The finish is savoury, rich in umami. The food–matching possibilities here are only limited by your imagination. It’s one of the top Grenaches around and is just a pleasure to drink.

TOBY BEKKERS 2015 McLaren Vale Grenache

bekkerswine.com.au

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