Bekkers - Fine Wine From The Vale
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 in News
Bekkers Wine is the product of the ambitions of Toby and Emmanuelle Bekkers who set out to raise the bar and make fine wine from the Vale. To say they have been successful is something of an understatement. In Australia’s emerging fine wine scene, McLaren Vale has stolen a march on other regions. Right there at the top are the Bekkers with their Grenache and Syrah.
Breathtaking wines that allow us to taste the future of Australian wine, explore them now.
The case is being made for the McLaren Vale as a fine wine region rather than merely a region that produces quality and value. And the evidence is building. A key element of this is the husband and wife team of Toby and Emmanuelle who give their family name to Bekkers. Fine wines are rarely produced by wilting-lily winemakers, nor does it require bombast. It usually comes in some cocktail of confidence, self belief and assuredness, determination, vision and ambition.
Breathtaking wines that allow us to taste the future of Australian wine, explore them now.
The case is being made for the McLaren Vale as a fine wine region rather than merely a region that produces quality and value. And the evidence is building. A key element of this is the husband and wife team of Toby and Emmanuelle who give their family name to Bekkers. Fine wines are rarely produced by wilting-lily winemakers, nor does it require bombast. It usually comes in some cocktail of confidence, self belief and assuredness, determination, vision and ambition.
‘Good for them and great for us.’
Bekkers, a family owned and operated winery, could so easily have played it safe. They could have produced good quality, great value reds of the Vale and offered a twee and homely cellar door experience. Not so. Good for them and great for us. Emmanuelle and Toby met in the mid 90s when they were working the 95 vintage at the iconic Hardys Tintara.
The contemporary cellar door
Toby, the viticulturist and McLaren Vale local, led the Paxton family’s biodynamic conversion in the mid-2000s. Nowadays, the Bekkers wines are the product of carefully farmed vineyards and scrupulous attention to detail. They take a pragmatic approach employing organic, biodynamic and conventional practices that suit the management of each parcel and vineyard.
‘Today, Bekkers is in that special club of McLaren Vale winemakers…’
Today, Bekkers is in that special club of McLaren Vale winemakers that are leading the line in recalibrating what fine wine means from the Vale. For Australian fine wine collectors, they are an essential piece of the puzzle. The fruit is picked by hand, the fruit is vinified with 15-25% whole bunches and cold soaked for 5-6 days before natural fermentation and being basket pressed to French oak 500L puncheons.
Bekkers Grenache McLaren Vale
2019 - 97 points, Ned Goodwin MW, Wine Companion
Sourced from three distinct vineyards of varying personality owning to rocky outcrops to ancient beach sands. This produces bright ruby wine with a nose of red fruits and five-spice followed by a palate of red cherry and tobacco with ripe grippy tannins.
Bekkers Syrah Grenache McLaren Vale
2019 - 95 points, Stuart Knox, The Real Review
The Syrah is sourced from red clay-loam over siltstone rock in Clarendon (which they now own) and Grenache from sand over orange sandy-clay in the much vaunted Blewitt Springs. Deep inky purple with a nose of lavender, violets, blueberry, blackberry, Indian spices and a palate of leafy blackcurrant and a long, soft, silky texture.
Bekkers Syrah McLaren Vale
2019 - 95 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Sourced from three distinct vineyards on shallow loam or red clay-loam over siltstone rock. Here the oak regime changes somewhat to incorporate around 60% new French oak also in 500L puncheons. This produces inky purple wine with a nose of dark, red fruits and spices that leads into a palate that is soft, fine and silky.
Bekkers Wine offers a confident blueprint for the future in which a firm belief in Australian fine wine will be the high tide that lifts all boats.
Experience Bekkers’ Grenache and Syrah and taste the future of Australian wine now.
Emmanuelle and Toby Bekkers
Emmanuelle, who studied winemaking in Montpellier and hails from Toulon in France, has juggled life between her new home in McLaren Vale and annual returns to France for vintages in Bordeaux and Burgundy. The Bekkers even bottle a little Chablis.
‘Today, Bekkers is in that special club of McLaren Vale winemakers…’
Today, Bekkers is in that special club of McLaren Vale winemakers that are leading the line in recalibrating what fine wine means from the Vale. For Australian fine wine collectors, they are an essential piece of the puzzle. The fruit is picked by hand, the fruit is vinified with 15-25% whole bunches and cold soaked for 5-6 days before natural fermentation and being basket pressed to French oak 500L puncheons.
Bekkers Grenache McLaren Vale
2019 - 97 points, Ned Goodwin MW, Wine Companion
Sourced from three distinct vineyards of varying personality owning to rocky outcrops to ancient beach sands. This produces bright ruby wine with a nose of red fruits and five-spice followed by a palate of red cherry and tobacco with ripe grippy tannins.
Bekkers Syrah Grenache McLaren Vale
2019 - 95 points, Stuart Knox, The Real Review
The Syrah is sourced from red clay-loam over siltstone rock in Clarendon (which they now own) and Grenache from sand over orange sandy-clay in the much vaunted Blewitt Springs. Deep inky purple with a nose of lavender, violets, blueberry, blackberry, Indian spices and a palate of leafy blackcurrant and a long, soft, silky texture.
Bekkers Syrah McLaren Vale
2019 - 95 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review
Sourced from three distinct vineyards on shallow loam or red clay-loam over siltstone rock. Here the oak regime changes somewhat to incorporate around 60% new French oak also in 500L puncheons. This produces inky purple wine with a nose of dark, red fruits and spices that leads into a palate that is soft, fine and silky.
Bekkers Wine offers a confident blueprint for the future in which a firm belief in Australian fine wine will be the high tide that lifts all boats.
Experience Bekkers’ Grenache and Syrah and taste the future of Australian wine now.
