Sourced from three distinct vineyards on shallow loam or red clay-loam over siltstone rock.. Picked by hand, the fruit is vinified with 20% whole bunches and cold soaked for 5-6 days before natural fermentation and being basket pressed to aged French oak 500L puncheons, around 60% new. This produces inky purple wine with a nose of dark, red fruits and spices that leads into a that is soft, fine and silky.
Clarendon and Seaview sourcing, the former elevated at 194–242m. Yields, minuscule. Hand-picked fruit, 22–30% whole bunches, parcel-dependent. Sorted, cold soaked and fermented spontaneously, with 15–20 days of maceration. Take note! Aged in new (51%) and older puncheons. This succinct offering has impressed in the past. This year is no different. Texture, the opus. Nothing about obvious fruit. Hallelujah to that. Carnal aromas of leather, game, sandalwood, something volcanic and a mulchy fecundity. Briary tannins, almost skeletal. Kirsch, a rub of menthol, anise, clove, tamarind and cardamom. Expansive, savoury and long. Fine.
95 points, Wine Companion (January 2021)
Lots of animale, meat drippings, dusty spice cupboard amongst the rich, ripe, booze-soaked berries going on here. Touches of rum and raisin in the mix, a sluice of walnut and varnish woody notes. Dark chocolate, lots of it, finishes the wine smooth and then a little gummy with bitterness. All added up there’s plenty of delight here, but those elements aren’t quite there yet and the wood spice and richness feels a bit overt currently. That being said, a bolder wine, then you’re a shoe in.
93+ points, The Wine Front (July 2021)
Deep, youthfully bright red/purple colour, with a spicy, youthful shiraz aroma, seemingly cooler-grown than it is, but also concentrated and deep. The flavour penetrates very deep and is augmented by ample soft, fleshy tannins. Texturally lovely and beautifully balanced. It's already enjoyable to drink, although it undoubtedly has a bright future. A more elegant rendition of this wine.
95 points, The Real Review (July 2021)
Assertive oak frames the bright red-plum and dark-berry flavors nicely. There’s attractive intensity with ripe red-plum and blackberry aromas and flavors, delivered with length, power and poise. Impressively defined, long and resolved.
95 points, JamesSuckling.com (August 2021)
Much more savoury and restrained than the McLaren Vale norm, with fennel and dark chocolate giving a bitter complexity to the palate. Balanced and savoury with no obvious oak influence. Soft tannins with moderate acid. Perhaps there's a bit of reduction keeping this more introverted than usual?
17 points, JancisRobinson.com (August 2021)
You know things are going well when a winemaker limits sales of its flagship to 12 bottles per person. My advice – get in quick for this wine which is a beautifully sophisticated McLaren Vale shiraz.
A strong followup after the 2018 vintage and again showcases masterful tannin management. It’s a real trademark of the Bekkers wines with beautiful tannin integration almost hiding the structure away behind a wall of fruit. But it’s there which, with immaculate balance, will allow this wine to sing for many years to come.
Great purple almost opaque colour and immediately showcases powerful yet complex fruit with layers of roasted meat, meat stock, soy sauce, star anise plus more traditional blackberry, mulberry and tight grain French oak. It’s then dry, juicy and bright, some cherry pip flavours before again descending into more savoury, seamless fruits before a long, balanced and fleshy finish. It’s delicious already but also has plenty of aging potential.
96 points, Wine Pilot (August 2021)
