WineFolio ‘Top 10 Tasting – Single Varietal Reds’
During our recent wine dinners in Auckland and Wellington, we had the pleasure of meeting David Walker Bell of WineFolio, who took a particular liking to our wines. He tasted a few wines in our range that night with Darren and Yvonne Lorkin, so when the opportunity later arose to submit our Grenache to David for tasting & review, who were we to say no to sharing this wonderful varietal!
While David reviews a range of wines throughout the year, his Top 10 tastings typically run by theme or varietal, and while he has a strong focus on New Zealand wine; working his way through every single cellar door here in Aotearoa, for the first time, David invited entries from overseas producers for his most recent Top 10 ‘Single Varietal – Reds’ tasting. Excellent… enter Brockenchack Wines.
This single varietal reds tasting excluded Shiraz/Syrah and Pinot Noir, as these varietals are each awarded their own Top 10 Tastings at other times in the year. The more encompassing ‘Reds’ category therefore included any other straight red varietal including the likes of Merlot, Cab Sauv, Malbec, Cab Franc, Grenache, Tempranillo, Gamay Noir etc. (you get the drift – no blends). David & tasting team were looking for the best editions of any of these singles, which really allowed its grape varietal to shine.
Despite having upwards of 60 wines submitted for this tasting, David only reports on the Top 10. Enter our Megan Jane Grenache… coming in at #2 out of all the Aussie wines.
David’s review: #2 – Brockenchack ‘Megan Jane’ Grenache 2019
“Starting bright, delicate, and jazzy – light on its feet. The nose of cherry, rosehip and rose petal, plus raspberry, mandarin, and cherry blossom. A juicy and racy entry to the palate, with vibrant acidity. Tannins emerge further back as intensity builds, and now there is more weight and focus. Sarsparilla and flush of supple tannin and pithy phenolics. Love these wines that change in your glass – each sip is different, and this gave us more discussion than any wine I can recall in months. Our top Grenache”
If that doesn’t make you want to try our Megan Jane Grenache, we don’t know what will! ‘Jazzy, juicy and vibrant – yum! See what all the fuss is about… Buy in NZ.
One of the things we love about WineFolio is that they taste each glass with a little time, with the aim to give each wine a generous chance to shine. But we also love that they not only look at what is in the glass, but the stories behind the wines as well – and we have plenty of stories!
Thank you David, glad you enjoyed our Grenache as much as we do!
Want to learn more about Grenache; try this Forbes article Grenache The Unsung Hero. Or WSET’s Understanding Grenache.
Much like these articles indicate, here at Brockenchack we initially planted our Grenache grapes in 2013 to blend into our Rose, but in 2017 winemaker Jo Irvine suggested we make our single varietal ‘Megan Jane’ Grenache and boy are we glad she did… it has been going from strength to strength!
2017 Megan Jane Grenache | Eden Valley Grenache Winery of the Year – 2019 Melbourne International Wine Competition | Gold – 2019 Melbourne International Wine Competition
2018 Megan Jane Grenache | Silver – 2020 Melbourne International Wine Competition (93) | Silver – 2020 New Zealand International Wine Show
2019 Megan Jane Grenache | Gold – 2021 Melbourne International Wine Competition | 94 Points – Sam Kim, Wine Orbit | 93 Points | Winepilot – Ken Gargett | #2 – WineFolio Top 10 Single Varietal Reds Tasting
2020 Megan Jane Grenache | Double Gold (96) – 2022 Melbourne International Wine Competition
David has also reviewed our 2021 Mackenzie William 1896 Riesling, which you can buy in NZ here (limited stock remains).