BEKKERS Grenache 2017

Robert Parker Score: 95 points

Reviewer: Erin Larkin — Issue 253 End of February 202125 Sep 2025

Drink 2025–2042

The 2017 Grenache is from a wet year, and the harvest was later than many years before it. Yields were quite high in 2017—not just in McLaren Vale but also in Barossa (having just visited there this week and asking many producers who also kindly offered vintage vertical perspectives). The best wines were from the vineyards that responsibly managed those yields and chased quality over quantity. While this is a measure necessary to employ in every season, it is particularly important to adhere to in naturally high yielding seasons. So here, the 2017 Grenache is lighter and more savory than many on the table and is showing more tertiary notes than the 2016 and indeed the 2015 vintages before it. Although conditions were very different, it is showing some of the characteristics displayed in the 2014 vintage. This aside, the wine remains eminently elegant and restrained, with a profusion of exotic spices and dark stone fruits. It's a beauty. 15% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.