Recognition

I’m enormously enthusiastic about Brian Croser’s new Tapanappa venture (which will unite a number of ‘sites of distinction?, including those beyond Australia’s borders, in due course), and the Whalebone Vineyard from Wrattonbully (formerly Koppamurra) makes a fine foundation stone. Brian is always looking for length rather than breadth and some have criticised him for going too far in that direction. This wine is perfectly pitched, it seems to me, between those two planes: the fruit qualities are outstanding, with a helix of ripenesss turning at the wine’s core; acutely judged tannins, too, purring in the background. It is (as its geographical position between Coonawarra and Padthaway suggests) a kind of Coonawarra refocussed, with the wind-harried blade of acidity draped in velvet and a little more old-continent generosity in evidence. 94/100