Bekkers Clarendon Syrah 2024

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Mattinson review of Bekkers Clarendon Syrah 2023.

Bekkers Clarendon Syrah 2024
$300, 14.5% alcohol, screwcap, McLaren Vale.

Bekkers Clarendon Syrah is limited to 1000 bottles each year and is, as stated previously, a remarkable entrant into the upper reaches of Australian wine. This 2024 release saw 33% whole bunches, was fermented without addition of yeast, and was basket pressed 500 litre French oak puncheons, 60% new.

This is a silken syrah offering complexity in spades and the most exquisite combination of flavour, balance, mouthfeel and length. It tastes of blue and black berries, dark chocolate, peppercorn and a crush of fresh violets, with pure roasted nut and exotic choc-nut characters woven harmoniously throughout. It’s superb, plain and simple, start to finish. This wine was tasted over the course of 24 hours and while it remained steadfast and true throughout, with barely any movement, all that did change was the gradual unfolding of red and black licorice notes, to great and beguiling effect. 97 points.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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