?
Industry doyen Brian Croser thinks the modern chardonnay is the result of winemakers using better grapes grown in cool climates. while its resurgence is as simple as consumers seeking greater “sophistication”.
“There has been an incremental increase in the quality of Australian chardonnay,” Croser says. “People are looking for more sophisticated food and wine experiences and with sauvignon blanc there are very few things of high quality you can pair it with. You can only eat so many oysters.”
Croser. who is making wines under the Tapanappa label after selling Petaluma to Lion Nathan in 2001, says Australian winemakers have worked out the best places to produce the best chardonnays – Tumbarumba, the Yarra Valley, the Mornington Peninsula, the Adelaide Hills.Margaret River and multiple emerging locations in Tasmania.
“Australia is now making fine chardonnay – the equal of anywhere in the world and rapidly gaining on the great chardonnay wines ofFrance,” Croser says.
…
