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Youthful purple in the glass, vivid and bright. Evocative and lifted aromas of blueberry, dried herbs, sarsaparilla, nutmeg, violets and Asian spice. Fleshy, blue fruit driven, textured and mouth-filling. There’s a very pure drive of fragrant, opulent and bright fruit along with granular tannins and bright acidity. There’s real vibrancy and life to this syrah.
95 Points
The fourth consecutive cool vintage, and the coolest of the last four too. I have a weather station in my back yard, and I like to look at the data, and in this way, I feel a sort of kinship with Brian Croser, who loves weather statistics as much as I do. You can look at the the weather at my house for the month of August HERE. Ha ha. It’s been unusually hot. Picked on the 18th of April. One third new oak.
I said it of last year’s release, and I’ll say it again. This wine has a certain steely top note, or ozone maybe, strawberry and exotic spice, and some white chocolate and raspberry. It’s medium-bodied, with something of a leafy autumnal character, cool acidity, poached strawberry and spice, some hazelnut, a grilled red capsicum thing, with light grainy tannin closing out a finish of excellent length. It’s a really good wine.
Merlot (55%) and Cabernet Franc (45%) blend with fruit grown on the 37 million year old soils of the 45 year old Tapanappa Whalebone vineyard. Bottled under cork. 2019 was warm and dry and only recevied 72% of ‘normal’ growing season rainfall. Cool weather late saw hand harvesting at the usual time of late march for the Merlot and April 1st for the Cab Franc. Winemaker is the esteemed Brian Croser.
Medium deep garnet to ruby. Blackberry and dust, boysenberry swirl, dried mint, concentrated cassis, purple florals, cedary oak and obsidian mineral/earthiness. Goodness me, full flesh bound tight with meshy hyper fine savoury tannin. There’s a tomato sugo like spiced flow, topped with graphite-pencilly line and studded with umami. There’s black fruit, there’s earth. There’s elegance and seriousness. There’s class and depth. It’s nearly all there. Something to savour and ponder over now, or put it away for decades.
95 Points
Cabernet Sauvignon (85%), Shiraz (15%) fruit grown on the 37 million year old soils of the Tapanappa Whalebone vineyard. Bottled under cork. 2019 was warm and dry, and ‘meagre’ harvest of 2.5 tonnes per hectare due to poor fruit set in late spring. Winemaker is the esteemed Brian Croser.
Fragrant violets and earth with cedar, dried mint, blackberry fruit strap, pencil graphite, plum sauce, salt crystals, anise spice and some inky umami. Medium fleshed with length and complex layering, like the earth it comes from. Stays fresh through the tail while being ably supported by drying, savoury, fine tannin. Has all the structure and hallmarks for long-term ageing.
94 Points
Medium depth of ruby to brick-red hue, the bouquet scented with pot-pourri and sandalwood, a hint of tapenade or olive paste, while the palate is full bodied and quite firm, with lashings of grippy tannins that would appreciate hearty protein at the dinner table. Interestingly, the bouquet and flavours are mellowing nicely while the tannins remain quite assertive.
92 Points
Good depth and hue of colour, holding its age well, the bouquet suggesting camphor, green leaves, a hint of eucalyptus, and crushed peppercorns, while the palate is very firm and grippy, needing a hearty piece of steak to combat the firmness. A dab of fruit sweetness in the middle leavens the structure. Full bodied red worthwhile cellaring.
2024–2039
Foggy Hill is Brian Croser’s latest (albeit one twenty years in the making) passion project, down on the Southern tip of the Fleurieu.
Cool, maritime influenced, the site for this stunningly consistent Pinot.
Leads with a floral, rose-raspberry mix over Sage. Spice – pepper and Chinese five spice – linger in the background, supplementing the initial brighter aromatics with added depth.
The palate is deep, rich – with a balance of tight and fine tannins, with a freshening acidity in the mix. Finishes long, with an appealing mineral like pucker. Offers finesse, elegance, yet without sacrificing depth of flavour – there’s longevity here for sure, if you can keep your mitts off that is.
94 Points
Lovely figgy note gently wafting from the glass here. Add to that ripe stonefruit, pear – it’s like a summer salad in a glass.
Bracing acidity running the full length of the wine. Citrus, stonefruit – a herbal/ floral note in the mix that I can’t quite put a finger on as to its specificity. This is a quite stunning release.
95 Points
Melon, a harder edge of Stonefruit kernel, fig and spice.
Initial entry is gentle and textural, leading to an expansive mid-palate through the finish. Burst of energetic tangy-lime acidity closes the wine out.
It’s cool year credentials and moderate 12.5% acidity self-evident in an excellent package.
93 Points
Impressively fresh, perfectly ripe blackcurrant and dark berry aromas are supported by high quality oak. The long palate offers fine, silky tannins. Enjoyable drinking, but will reward cellaring.
4.5 stars
The nose is complex and intriguing, more secondary than primary, showing hints of tobacco leaf. A very finely structured, lengthy, savoury palate sets the seal on the excellence of this wine. If you love the wines of Bordeaux, you’ll understand.
5 stars
From a close-planted, lower-to-ground trellised plot in the Tiers Vineyard, Piccadilly, Adelaide Hills. An intense wine, concentrated and surprisingly rich given the season. Scents of salted cashew, ripe apple, ginger, clove, fennel and green mango, the palate an echo of the aromas set to medium weight with more woody spices apparent and a course of briny minerality slipping through. Glossy in texture up front, the wine rolls long onto a spicy, limey and salted-nut finish with just the faintest, pleasing lift of white balsamic zing. It feels serious, contemplative and very good, all up. Its best years will come with cellaring, too.
95 Points
This pure-fruited wine needs time to show its best. It tastes of pear, flint, peach and riverstones, with hay, lemon and cedarwood about the edges. It shows both power and control, but for the moment, it seems backward and a little surly. It will flourish in time.
94 Points
From the Tiers Vineyard planted in 1979. A third of the barrels used are new French oak. The cooler year renders a wine of tension and torsion, precision and finesse. It’s heavily perfumed, an invitation to drink lustily, with green apple, lime, ginger, cinnamon and faint alpine herb characters lightly dusted with clove-cedar oak. Just so. The palate has immense vitality and length, a pleasing, almost lightly hazy texture captured in ripples of briny acidity holding in more apple, cinnamon, clove and licks of peach and green almond. Lots going on here; an immensely satisfying and serious wine. And delicious, importantly.
96 Points
Lovely figgy note gently wafting from the glass here. Add to that ripe stonefruit, pear – it’s like a summer salad in a glass.
Bracing acidity running the full length of the wine. Citrus, stonefruit – a herbal/ floral note in the mix that I can’t quite put a finger on as to its specificity. This is a quite stunning release.
95 Points
This expressive and lively 2021 Mount Barker Shiraz is delightfully savoury with its reservedd layers of new leather and dark earth over a core of mulberry and blackberry, punctuated by fine French oak. Good precision and tension and, while a little reserved, retains composure over an extended finish with support by firm yet firm al-dente tannins.
An Australian Syrah that actually lives up to the name, with a heart of bright spice, bursting in aromatic red and black berries and boasting a lightness of touch. How is this possible in a wine that is 14.9% alcohol? Well, for that answer look no further than the experienced hand of winemaker, Brian Croser, and his co-winemaker, Michael Symons. In 1992, the Symons family planted Syrah at Mount Barker because of its similarity to the soils of the Northern Rhône. For decades, the fruit was sold to Petaluma, but more recently small parcels were made available to Tapanappa. This is, according to Croser, a Distinguished Site, that is, it is super special. Arousing lifted scents of briar, bramble, wild black fruits, blueberry, earth, anise and spice. So on point in capturing a cool climate, aromatic, medium-bodied Syrah (aka Shiraz) that moves with energy and life bringing fruit and spice to the fore. Sage, pepper, allspice, anise and a light floral injection sit comfortably amid the blackberry, red plums and supple texture afforded by maturation in seasoned barriques. Warm in generosity off a terrific vintage year, flows easily, flows long. More please!
A warm and dry vintage for the region in 2019, which helped ensure that the Whalebone Vineyard, planted 45 years ago, had a very small yield. The wine is a blend of 85% Cabernet and 15% Shiraz. The Shiraz comes from the Crayères Vineyard. After destemming, the two varieties were fermented separately, after cold soaking. A week’s maceration on skins followed. Malolactic fermentation was in French oak barriques, half new and half single use, before seventeen months of maturation. 670 dozen under cork. Deep maroon in colour, the nose gives aromas of black fruits, warm earth, cigar box notes, tobacco leaves and toasty oak. There are hints of vanilla, nutmeg, chocolate, dried herbs and cassis. Showing good length and fine tannins, this is an attractive style for drinking over the best part of the next decade.
Everything about this wine suggests it is one for the long haul. Both the Merlot and Cabernet Franc come from the Whalebone Vineyard. The blend is 55% Merlot and 45% Cab Franc with blending only just before a seventeen month maturation period in barriques. After destemming and a short cold soak, an eleven day ferment and then seven days on skins. 470 dozen, under cork. This is deep red. The toasty oak is to the fore here. Notes of chocolate, black fruits, coffee grinds, dried herbs and plums, the wine has serious concentration, but impeccable balance. Poise, focus, very fine if slightly firm tannins and excellent length. Definitely one for the cellar.
90 Points
Complex and stylish, the gorgeously expressed bouquet shows dark berry, charcuterie, porcini
and toasted nut aromas, leading to a concentrated palate offering plush texture backed by layers
of fine, grainy tannins. Multi-layered and firmly structured, this is sensually satisfying with a
persistent, engaging finish.
At its best: now to 2030.
This is a stunning Australian nod to the wines of St Emilion on Bordeaux’s right bank, a compelling blend of two red grape varieties that often take a back seat but shine here with waves of flavours gently cascading onto your tongue in a very stylish way. This is a masterclass in balance with the 55% merlot and 45% cabernet franc from Wrattonbully in South Australia spending almost 18 months in French oak (50% new) adding to the palate interest but never intruding. There is dark layered fruit here from a warm vintage, along with savoury and earthy nuances, herbal interludes, dark olive notes and some spice hints. This is at its best when paired with food. We paired it with roast lamb en croute, which worked a treat. $90. But worth it. Excellent drinking.
95 points from me.
Tapanappa Adelaide Hills B&V Vineyard Syrah 2021, $60.
Confusingly, this new, limited-edition model from the Croser stable is from Mount Barker SA, not the more common Mt Barker WA. Regardless it’s amazingly fragrant and exceptionally easy to drink despite its nearly 15 per cent.
9.5/10
Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard (Wrattonbully) Merlot Cabernet Franc, 2019, $90.
This is about as fashionable as merlot gets, however, just because you have money, doesn’t mean you have taste, in which case buy this to cover it up. Scrumptious red wine for the rich and fashionable.
9.5/10
Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Tiers Vineyard (Alt. 450m) Chardonnay 2023, $110.
About as much going on as a chardonnay can provide and all of it good. Somewhat lighter than exxy chardonnays are renowned, and better for it. Alas, few will discover what chardonnay can be, and true, it is merely different in the end and depends what you prefer, but it’s hard to go back.
9.7/10
Absolutely brilliant. A captivating and detailed wine with veneers of interest peeling back with ease, give this Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc some time and you’ll be rewarded. Three days of tasting certainly highlighted that.
From the last hot vintage of the previous 15 years (2005-2019), a meagre 3 tonnes of fruit was harvested per hectare due to poor fruit set. The Cabernet Franc was harvested on 1 April with the Merlot coming in at the normal time on 20 March.
The finished wine saw 50% new French oak for 17 months with the final blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc at 55/45.
Layers of interest seem never ending. Think dried figs, baked blueberries, plums, passata, tilled earth, wallet leather, bay leaf and twigs. A blackcurrant undertow is the common thread with a minty edge hitching a ride. Dried sage and thyme continue to offer much to peruse with bone broth and pan juices rushing late with fine beads of exotic spices lingering beautifully. Above all, its presence through the mouth is seamless. Like the Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz, give this some time or a good decant to see it at its best. Superb drinking!
Drink to ten years+
96/100
The synergy and fusion captivate with this Tapanappa Whalebone Cabernet Shiraz. Joy and pleasure seep through every pore. A wine that evolved fabulously over three days of tasting, it’s one to tuck away, that’s for sure.
From the last hot vintage of the previous 15 years (2005-2019), a tiny 2.5 tonnes of fruit was harvested per hectare due to poor fruit set. The Cabernet was harvested on 9 April with the Shiraz from the adjacent Crayeres vineyard coming in on 20 March.
The finished wine saw 50% new French oak for 17 months with the final blend of Cabernet and Shiraz at 85/15.
Red currants, red berries, blueberries and blackberries skip from the glass. Over a few days, the aromas and flavour profile showcase wonderful density. Tomato paste and spiced roasted red capsicum add some savoury flare but the tension demonstrates that time will be its friend. Satsuma plums, cigar box and tar add further detail with some bitter orange rind on close. Let it breathe and you’ll be rewarded. Above all, it’s an excellent wine that will comfortably age beyond a decade.
Drink to 10 years+
95/100
A great Aussie classic blend meets a Goldilocks kind of vintage – not too hot, not too cold – and the result is one mighty delicious wine. Bounces in ripe fruit highlighting the beauty of both grapes in black plum, black berries, cherry, violets, oregano, baking spices and graphite. To taste it’s smooth, fine-edged and, typical to past vintages, it remains medium bodied, floral, warm and super inviting. Oak remains a quiet layer that binds, a masterclass in persuasive support for some superlative fruit. The two grapes blend and bind seamlessly, no great division of labour here to be seen. Tannins are relatively supple and have a role in providing structure while bending to the power of the fruit. Simply irresistible.
Question: do you plan to drink this Wrattonbully red soon? If yes, then some advice. It needs air – a lot of swishing of air in the glass or, better still, a decant – and then watch it open. While five years-old, this charming Merlot Cabernet Franc remains very young at heart and tight in structure. It has plans of its own and they involve a lengthy stay in bottle. Still, with some air, the tension lessens and there’s much to delight in. Aromas in plum, blueberry, black cherry, anise, sage, bay leaf, new leather. There’s a savouriness to the palate, a kind of jalapeño like-pepperiness and earthiness with black fruits, complimented by florals and spice. Quite an exotic touch. Tannins are firm and they’re there for a reason. So much here to take in, consider, enjoy, debate. Don’t you just love a wine that gets you thinking? So good on a number of levels. POSTSCRIPT: This was even better on day two!
This 2019 Cabernet Shiraz is quite a different beast from the Merlot Cabernet Franc from the same vintage showing more poise and finesse with red currant, cedar and earthy tones prominent. Again a strong heart of tannins is the key feature, and a firm drying finish. Young and tight rigth now with potential to improve in bottle.
This broody and densely packed 2019 Merlot Cabernet Franc is exceptional and offers up muscular aromas of meat stock, blackberry and graphite with a strong backbone of new French oak. That density continues on the palate with a firm tannic overall feel – a strong core of gravel, graphite and baked earth flavours tightly bound over an extremely long finish. A wine best left at least ten years to see its besty.
Blend of merlot and cabernet franc. Some wines just put you at ease, from the outset. The volume of fruit here matched to the sure swagger of tannin speaks in no uncertain terms of the quality on offer. This is absolutly top echelon. Blackcurrant, bay leaves, cedarwood, beetroot and kirsch flavours drum captivatingly through the palate and on through the long, but highly structured, finish.
96 Points
The effect of Shiraz on this blend is significant. It’s a wine threaded with herbal, tobacco-like graphite and mint notes, and structurally it feels very cabernet too, in that the tannin has a strictness to it. But then the mid-palate is awash with shiraz’s plush, sweet, plum-driven fruit. In other words this is a textbook example of this blend: cabernet builds the foundation, and shiraz adds the cuddles.
95 Points
Blackcurrant, redcurrant, hazelnut and chocolate (praline), a fair amount of mint, sage and bay leaf adds perfume, along with some spice and cedar oak. It also has a dusty amaro-like quality, which I like. Medium to full-bodied, dusty and peppery, cocoa powder richness, plenty of blonde tobacco too, some fresh tomato acidity, and it’s quite dusty and tannic on a finish of good length. Mint is a theme here, though the wine does have plenty of oomph and character. Admittedly, I’m kind of sensitive to minty flavours in wine, so take that onboard as a caveat.
Lots of liquorice, mint, black fruit, camphor, cedar. Medium to full-bodied, lots of black fruit and mint, tobacco laced, with grainy tannin grip, shows some warming alcohol, but pulls cool and long on the finish, albeit a little grainy and drying.
92 Points
Deep red ruby with a finely woven and complex nose of violets, orange zest, macerated strawberry and dried cherry tomato, black fruits, fig leaf, mint tea, savoury undergrowth, tobacco, cedar and crushed gravel minerality.
In the mouth it’s juicy, but tightly structured, tense and textured dry with firm tannins. Lovely ripe and concentrated dark fruit echo the nose, along with some slightly bittersweet anise, savoury herbals and sweet spice. An undercurrent of acidity carries it all with confidence, while an old world savoury mineral quality draws you into the serious side of this beauty. The hallmarks are there for long cellaring and ends with an encore of sweet spice and dark fruit. This has the soul of an Old World wine, but the charm of the New World and is a must for lovers of the right bank!
Deep ruby with a beautiful nose of potpourri, a touch of lemon rind, raspberry licorice, brambly berries, cassis, bayleaf, thyme, Sicilian olive, roasted beef, pencil shavings, cedar and a sanguine mineral quality.
In the mouth it’s dry, elegant, finely structured with a tight physique and boasts perfectly ripe fruit at its core. Flavours of blueberry, mulberry, blackberry, cassis and plum shine with freshness and purity, kissed by anise and sweet spice and textured with tight grained leathery tannins. A line of mineral acidity runs throughout and carries it all with ease through to a reaching tail ending with plenty of tension and finesse. A brilliant example of what I consider to be the quintessential Aussie red blend.
Enticing citrus, orchard fruit and grilled cashew notes flow and swirl around the simmering acidity and fine creamy texture and propel towards the enchanting, long finish.
Inviting, with quince, candied lemon and fresh pineapple juice leading to a palate of apple, white peach, vanilla and coconut.
This is a 55% merlot and 45% cabernet franc blend made in a similar way to the cabernet shiraz. The colour is low intensity with bright crimson purple hues. The aroma shows superb black fruits, and dark plum with a light floral lift and a little spice. Love the texture here. It’s medium bodied but layered with a thread of fine chalky tannin and fine-grained oak lacing it together perfectly. Has a slightly savoury ferrous finish adding appeal. Could throw out a decent challenge to the Right Bank.
Score: 97/100 Cellar: 25 years
Elegant, refined and stylish. The fruit comes from down at Wrattonbully and is taken up the winery in Piccadilly. Both varieties are kept separate during the fermentation and maturation stages before blending after 17 months in barriques. Bright crimson hues with a trace of purple. The nose has an engaging combination of plush red fruits with a little earthy licorice and cedar. Tannins are fine and slightly chalky while the oak, of which half is new, sits perfectly within. This is a super wine that will handle extended cellaring.
Score: 96/100 Cellar: 25 years
South Australia’s wine story includes many well-worn tales of adventures into the unknown, maddening enterprise and celebrated family sagas. But then there are the more secret histories, which live on today in wines that reflect their colourful stories. Here, we explore the lesser-known side to South Australia’s iconic wine industry.
Let’s get this secret history business off to a seriously big picture start, with a hefty timeline set at about 34 million years ago. That’s right; no 180-year-old-vines, here … at least, not to begin this story, anyway. It’s an ancient secret that we begin with.
This 34 million-year figure is actually the age of the limestone – determined by scientific dating – wrapped around a fragment of primitive whale bone that was discovered in 2004 inside a cave network under a vineyard in the Wrattonbully region of the state’s Limestone Coast.
This cave network was discovered during ripping of Crayere’s Vineyard (within the Terre a Terre estate of Xavier and Lucy Bizot), adjoining what’s now known as the Whalebone Vineyard (under the banner of Brian Croser’s Tapanappa wines). Both vineyards are set in the East Naracoorte Ranges on the Kanawinka Fault line.
It is thought the area’s caves were formed about one million years ago, just inland of where the shoreline was at the time, before the sea level dropped and caves were completely drained approximately 800,000 years ago, and gradual uplift during the Pleistocene period pushed the ocean 100 kilometres away from the Naracoorte Ranges.
These caves also contain fossils from large marsupials such as giant koalas or kangaroos, with new research suggesting some of them in the Whalebone cave are almost 300,000 years old; the animals stranded in the cave when the entrance collapsed, sealing them off from being degraded by sun, weather or disturbed by intruders.
This extraordinary tale of times gone by has a modern ending, ultimately connecting the Tapanappa and Terre a Terre wines to the limestone-based geology of the region. Both wines here are finely tuned expressions of what is known as the Great Australian blend of Cabernet and Shiraz.
Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2018 ($55) is crafted from 87 per cent cabernet sauvignon from the Wrattonbully vineyard, as well as 13 per cent shiraz from the Adelaide Hills. Deeply seductive aromas link closely in an interplay of finessed French oak, blue-black fruits, subtle peppery spice and faint suggestions of mint chocolate, all coming together in seamless and delicious harmony.
After 55 vintages in Australia, you might surmise I have seen it all. Hot years, cold years, wet years, drought years, big crops, small crops, no crop. In 1983, the “Ash Wednesday” fire year, the fire was followed by a tropical deluge. We harvested no grapes from Clare or Coonawarra. Piccadilly Valley was not yet in production.
In 1989, we harvested the largest crop ever, regretting the obligation to do so as each tonne of large berried, big bunch, diluted in colour and flavour grapes entered the winery. We didn’t release a Coonawarra red wine that year.
In 2011, a very cold year we struggled to achieve ripeness and didn’t make a Tiers Chardonnay. The wine we made and declassified from Tiers vineyard has developed beautifully with bottle age. Winemaker judgement error!
In 1981, a very hot year, I decided the Coonawarra wine I had made would mature and die early, “drink before 5 years” I wrote on the back label. 43 years later it is drinking beautifully, with life ahead.
Despite the huge vintage variation described above and the many other different expressions in the 55 vintages that have endured my stewardship, there is none so aptly described as the “heart break vintage” as the 2024 vintage.
Heartbreak because the quality is so good and there is so little of it.
From Tiers in the Piccadilly Valley, we picked about half a normal harvest and from Foggy Hill on the Fleurieu Peninsula a mere 20%. Good old reliable Whalebone at Wrattonbully excelled at 80% of normal. The quality from all three vineyards is exceptional and the 2024 vintage from Tiers has produced exceptional Chardonnay.
A normal budburst was followed by a very wet and cool November and December, partially interrupting the flowering process, prolonging it over three weeks rather than one. The pollen of many of the flowers didn’t have the energy to reach the ovule and fertilise it, so the seeds didn’t form. No seeds, either no berry or a small excuse for a berry commonly called a chicken. Luckily about half the berries developed seeds and normal berry size and composition. They are the hens of the hen and chicken syndrome.
The cool calm conditions that followed to harvest on the 15th of March was also a record dry period with just 8mm’s recorded in February and March against the average of 75mm’s. The heat summation for the Piccadilly Valley for 2024 vintage was 1196°C-days slightly warmer than the long-term average of 1108°C-days.
There is an aphorism that “the best wines from a cool area are made in the slightly warmer vintages.” 2024 vintage in Tiers Vineyard abundantly complies. These cool dry ripening months encouraged the grapes to retain acid and develop the intense but delicate aromas and flavours of the very best Chardonnay wines.
One and a half hours south of Tiers, next to the Great Southern Ocean and it’s chilling south-easterly breezes, Foggy Hill flowering was decimated. The 2024 heat summation for Foggy was way below the average of 1348°C-days at 1223°C-days. Like Tiers, Foggy Hill had almost no rain in February and March, just 3.6mm’s versus the average of 64.3mm’s. The tiny residual crop of Pinot Noir ripened rapidly and was harvested on the 9th of March, one to two weeks before normal.
The colour of 2024 Tapanappa Foggy Hill Pinot Noir is vibrant purple crimson and translucent.
The aromas are at once intense and Foggy Hill complex, ripe satsuma plum, pomegranate, strawberry conserve and Chinese five spice with a hint of olive. The flavours are intense and lively with a sweet fruit middle and viscosity followed by a determined savoury tannin. 2024 Foggy Hill Pinot Noir is the concentrated product of this distinguished terroir at the lowest crop level possible.
Whalebone Vineyard in Wrattonbully, had a much more normal vintage than Tiers and Foggy Hill. It was a warm and very dry vintage at Whalebone. The heat summation for 2024 was 1544°C-days versus the average of 1472°C-days. There was no rain at all in the ripening months of February and March. Unusually, all varieties were harvested together on the 22nd and 23rd of March. That’s a normal harvest date for Merlot but is two to three weeks early for Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc. Ripeness was accelerated by the abnormally dry conditions.
2024 has delivered powerful vibrant coloured wine from Whalebone Vineyard. The aromas are emphatic and ripe, almost overpowering with roses, cassis, and exotic fresh green herbs. The flavours are rich and sweet with a strong but fine-grained tannin finish. Intense freshness is the hallmark of 2024 Whalebone wines from all three varieties.
My excitement about the quality of the 2024 vintage Tapanappa wines is tempered when I look at the empty spaces in our maturation cellars, the very few barriques arranged in a corner of what is a full cellar in a normal vintage. That is why 2024 is the heart-break vintage but I am truly grateful for the wonderful quality our distinguished vineyards have delivered.
BJC. 11/5/2024
Brian Croser’s flagship pinot noir comes from just 10 rows of Dijon clones – 777 and 115 – planted in the Foggy Hill Vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The name might sound a bit like a spell from Harry Potter, and who among us can’t see Hermione waving her wand and yelling, “Definitus!” Who knows what the result would be, but it’s rather appropriate as the wine is indeed a little bit spellbinding. Nine months in French oak barriques, 30 percent of them new. A pale garnet/crimson. Exquisite aromas. Red cherries and blueberries intertwined. Dry herbs, a hint of chinotto and spices. At this early stage, there’s still a hint of oak evident but it’s well into the process of integration. Finely balanced, the wine shows early complexity and is seamlessly structured. A gentle but fresh acidity, impressive length, an utterly gorgeous pinot with an exciting future. Love it.
There’s a cooling aspect to this, with its jasmine and seaspray notes, but its core is nutty and peachy, and while it feels measured it also has a presence. This is a fine chardonnay. Stonefruit, pear and salted nut characters put on a delicious show, start to finish, before pushing into smokier territory through the finish. No question of its quality.
Planted in 1979, the Tiers Vineyard is purportedly the first to have been planted in the Piccadilly Valley since the 19th century. It’s a revered site with a history of producing hugely successful Chardonnay wines made by powerhouse Australian wine identity Brian Croser. Aromas of peach schnapps, peach blossom, white nectarine, slithered almond and green apple lift from the glass, before air and temperature unlock cinnamon and lemon thyme. The melding of these aromatic notes makes for a moreish and complex profile. There’s lovely weight and pillowy, creamy texture to the palate which wraps around the stone fruit and spice notes before a tart, apple-drenched acid line and powdery phenolics pull it long, very long, to a focused and balanced close. This is fulsome and intense, but so masterfully tempered by brilliant structure and immaculate balance.
Brian Croser sends a first-hand report from Tapanappa in the Piccadilly Valley on a small but promising harvest. Above, Croser scrutinizes the Chardonnay grapes in the Tiers Vineyard.
We all know what comes in small packages, but can they be a little bigger than the 2024 vintage from our Tiers, Piccadilly Valley and Foggy Hill Fleurieu Peninsula vineyards?
At the beginning of the growing season, we anticipated harvesting 30 tonnes of Chardonnay from the Tiers Vineyard. We picked 16 tonnes on 14 March.
Similarly, we anticipated harvesting 30 tonnes of Pinot Noir from our Foggy Hill Vineyard. We picked 6 tonnes on 8 March.
In 2024 we planned to make wine from 550 tonnes of grapes at the Tapanappa Winery in the Piccadilly Valley. We received 250 tonnes of grapes from the total 2024 harvest. Only the Whalebone Vineyard in Wrattonbully, three hours south of Piccadilly and the Fleurieu, yielded a close to average crop.
What went wrong at the Tiers (shown above) and Foggy Hill?
After a slightly early budburst in early September, vine growth was normal before flowering at the end of November. The winter rains had been slightly above average and the soils were nicely full of water to support early growth.
Just as flowering started, the south-easterly winds began to blow persistently and with moderate strength. These cold winds were generated in the low latitudes of the Great Southern Ocean, bringing up cold air from the fringes of Antarctica to the top edge of expansive high-pressure systems, sweeping counterclockwise along the southern coastline of Australia. These high-pressure systems were centred on the latitude of Tasmania, reflecting a positive SAM (Southern Annular Modulation), and are usually further north in the spring.
SAM was positive because the enormous column of air spinning over the South Pole into the stratosphere (the Antarctic vortex) was very strong, sucking the high-pressure systems south.
The cold, strong south-easterly winds whistling across the coastal vineyards had a dire effect on the flowering process of the vines from 21 November into mid December.
The flowering period that is normally over in a week to 10 days extended for three weeks in a process painful to watch. It also rained intermittently throughout flowering and the caps that should fall off the opening flowers instead stuck to the pollen-bearing flower anthers, limiting the amount of pollen to reach the stigma, the doorway to the ovary. For the pollen that made it that far, the pollen tube growth from the stigma to the ovary was very slow because of the low temperatures and the pollen simply ran out of fuel before reaching its destination, the ovule or egg. Without pollination the ovule did not turn into a seed and without seeds the berries don’t develop – either at all or into very small ‘chickens’ (seedless berries).
The small percentage of fully pollinated flowers grew into normal berries with a complement of 1–4 seeds. They are the hens of the ‘hen and chicken’ syndrome more properly called millerandage. The unfertilised berries that simply fell off the bunch are the victims of coulure.
The frustrating aspect of poor flowering in 2024 is that the positive SAM has delivered a mild, even cool, growing season as it had for the previous four vintages starting with 2020. The quality of cool, dry vintages is high, creating intense but delicate grape flavours, bright colours for reds and lively natural acids to balance moderate alcohol levels.
And indeed 2024 has been cool, at average degree-day summations up to the end of March. February and March have been completely devoid of rain, so, accelerated by the low crops and a warm March, harvest was completed in perfect autumn weather in mid March exactly one month earlier than the very cool 2023 harvest.
The implications of a very small vintage are profound.
The vineyard costs as much to run with a small, average or large crop. For Foggy Hill the cost/tonne of the 6 tonnes of Pinot Noir in 2024 will be five times that for a normal crop. For Tiers Vineyard the cost/tonne of the 16 tonnes of Chardonnay will be double that of a normal crop.
In the winery the great majority of the costs remain the same, be it a small crop or big crop, so the processing costs per litre of wine made in 2024 vintage will be double a normal year.
I do not wish to explore these depressing arithmetic facts any further
Far from being a whinge about the bad luck of a poor flowering season by a disgruntled vigneron, my explanations of the 2024 vintage are made in a spirit of resignation and acceptance of the endless array of the random behaviours of Mother Nature. She always surprises. My preoccupation now is on the outstanding quality of the 2024 vintage and protecting and enhancing that in the winery.
2024 vintage certainly comes in a small package but it will be worth seeking out.
All photos by Ben Macmahon courtesy Tapanappa.
If Tiers 1.5m Chardonnay hails from the “new” block of French Bernard clones planted in 2003, fruit for this Tiers Chardonnay is off the “old” block, the original block established in 1979. A cool vintage and low yields bring good concentration, but what really characterises the wine is its open and inviting summery bounce and energy. It rocks. Orange and citrus blossom aromatics, a hint of honeysuckle join aromas of apple, citrus, grapefruit, white peach and spice. Lemony bright acidity rules the palate, enticing tastebuds and melding with lemon sorbet, zest, stone fruit and a distinctive quince tang against a nougat warm and buttery texture. Layer upon layer of concentrated flavour . . . and bounce.
The Adelaide Hills 2023 vintage was the coolest of the four consecutive cool vintages since 2020. To quote winemaker, Brian Croser, the ’23 Chardonnays are far from “overt.” I find that re-assuring, the vintage speaks and it’s beautifully fine with purity of fruit and acidity layered naturally, succinctly, making 1.5m poised for further ageing. Meyer lemon, lemon drop, nectarine, peach aromas with a hint of cashew – in other words an alluring introduction.Still incredibly youthful, offers a core of perfectly pitched citrus and stone fruits in balance and concentrated. Textural, too, as it comes together with nougat and roasted nuts joining fruit and gently spiced oak. Everything is in place. The only question remaining: to drink now, or not.
Bright green-gold hues introduce an immediately engaging and open young Chardonnay. Captures the Adelaide Hills archetypal Chardonnay beautifully in delicious citrus and stone fruits – bright and energetic – aided by juicy, filigree fine acidity that drives the wine long. The winemaker lets the fruit sing, it remains largely uncluttered or dominated by oak, but you just know it’s there and you sense it is totally integrated. Boasts terrific drive and flavour and is definitely ready to be enjoyed right now.
Naturally, there is a close relationship between this wine and the preceding one. The 1.5m comes from younger vines, but both were made from hand-picked grapes that were chilled to 2°C, and air-bag pressed before fermentation in French barriques, one third of which were new. The pair underwent lees contact until racking and bottling in November, 2023.
There’s a little more white nectarine here, with toasted nuttiness and vanilla that border on nougat. The textural grip is slightly more pronounced. A wonderful wine.
The nose reflects a cool site and vintage, offering suggestions of grapefruit, fig and white nectarine supported by lees complexity and a whiff of oak toastiness. The long, creamy, acid-fresh palate is a delight.
This wine offers aromas and flavours that strongly reflect white nectarine. Lees contact imparts an attractive nuttiness, and acidity drives the palate at this early stage.
On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the establishment of the Foggy Hill vineyard, winemaker Brian Croser – accompanied by wife Ann – embarked on a series of tasting and dinners to celebrate this milestone.
Whilst the Definitus wasn’t part of that tasting, opportunity afforded to review it post. The Definitus is akin to a block level wine, the Definitus strip being a sub-ridge formed where ferruginuous sandstone comes close to the surface. It also marks a delineation between two rows of two Bernard Clones (115 and 117, planted in 2003). Winemaker code for: “I think I’ve something rather special here”.
A darker manifestation, of blackberry with some Rosella like relief. Slightly sapid hints, not whole bunch, of depth and intensity.
A delicacy on entry, a light hand, seemingly at odds with the darker elements that introduce the wine. A burst of flavour that reminds of the pop of aromatic from a freshly pierced orange skin – atypical Pinot in my frame if reference, but there nonetheless.
Through the finish a pop of cassis like brilliance, bright and prime with a long tail of flavour through fine and persistent tannins. At turns it feels youthful, yet with a position that suggests longevity.
95 Points
It smells almost steely to me, which I like, and in with that there’s a pleasing green herb, mint and rosy perfume, cherry and strawberry, some cedar/pencil oak too. It’s medium-bodied with excellent structure, the quality of the tannin here is very good – all emery board and fine grip – there’s also something of a blood orange tang, in with plum and cherry, the finish is all cool and sappy, with excellent length. It’s a distinctive wine, and in many ways quite different to a lot of Australian Pinot Noir, and that’s no bad thing either.
94 Points
Only 2011 was cooler than 2023 (of recent vintages) in the Piccadilly Valley, as expressed in HDD at 1093°, versus the long term average of 1135°. This is from a block planted in 1979, the clone unknown.
Pear, grapefruit and lemon oil, almond meal and biscuit spices. It’s a bright and tight wine, a distinctly citrus-laced line of acidity, grapefruit, green olive and honey lemon, it’s flinty too, though has a light creamy cashew gloss to temper, and the finish is long with a zesty aftertaste. This seems like a long term wine, and while it’s kind of brittle as at now, its intensity and length mark it out as a classic Chardonnay.
96 Points
From a section of the Tiers vineyard close planted in 2003 using the Bernard clones 76 and 95. This is same same, but different to the old vine Tiers, a little fleshier, but it’s the texture that’s the main point of difference.
White stonefruit, pear, quite spicy and slightly dusty/peppery, honey and lime. The texture is a highlight, chalky and ‘mineral’, ripe lime and honey, white peach, spicy cinnamon oak, almond meal, with plenty of citrus bite on a finish of excellent length. Marvellous wine. So emphatic in its statement of vineyard and grape variety, not least quality.
96 Points
Pale gold with cyan reflections and a tight, but beautifully nuanced nose of orange and apple blossom, white peach, pear, apple, lemon, finger-lime, sugarmelon, dried galangal, cashew and honey nougat, fennel, a touch of spearmint, ocean salinity and a hint of flint. A bit ester-y, but not overt. In the mouth it’s like a sleeping Buddha. Zen, calm, harmonious but incredibly powerful and though tightly bound in youth, it boasts balance and symmetry. Pulsing apples, pear, fennel, grapefruit, melon and multidimensional stonefruit gripped with fine confident tannins and tense driving acidity. It flows like a river, endless and hypnotic, textured like the smooth stony bed itself and ends on a crescendo of slightly bitter nectarine and sharp citrus-like acidity. So much potential and as always, this hits the precipice of elegant and fine Australian Chardonnay. One to hold in the cellar for many years.
Pale gold with cyan and silver reflections and a nose of honeysuckle, pear, fleshy lemon and lime, white pineapple and peach, white pepper, chervil, coriander seed, ripe fig, candied almond, custard, butter, spearmint and anise. Saint Aubin vibes! In the mouth it’s fleshy, juicy yet dry with plenty of drive from fresh acidity. Apple, pear, lime, lemon, white stonefruit, melon, white pineapple and fresh fennel make a grand entrance, rising like a mist over the midpalate and imparts a trail of prickly mineral textures and chewy tannins along the way. It then twists and turns with its own unique pathway to a long finalé that ends quite chewy and tart. Serious stuff!
Pale gold with cyan and silver reflections and a nose of orange blossom, floral apples, splice, grilled nectarine, ripe fig, pineapple sage, white pepper, oats/grains and a whisper of spearmint.
In the mouth it’s tart, dry and tense with driving acidity that aims straight down the palate. Think tangy nectarine, lemon, grapefruit, white pineapple and puckering green apple…it makes you salivate sweetness! A rub of jaw-clenching acidity and fine chalky tannins grows and holds through the midpalate to a reaching tail that ends crisp and clean. Top value Chardy with exciting energy and delicious fruit intensity.
Medium-light straw with green highlights. Rich and floral. Full of freshly sliced stone fruit and apple, white blossoms, fig, white chocolate, a little peanut oil, a nuance of oyster shell brine, grapefruit citrus and white stones. Inherent fruit richness which belies the intensity and delicacy. The acidity is a fine spine without a hint of shrillness, the oak wonderfully judged to gently frame the picture of such delicate texture. Length and fruit persistence through the salivating finish. Elegance and class abound.
95 points
Pale lemon with green highlights. Fruit focused, but remaining delicate and intense. Pear, apple, sherbet, warm cinnamon spice, grapefruit and preserved lemon citrus, clove oil and torn brioche. Delicate texture, with precision and focus. Pomme fruit and grapefruit echoes after a ramrod straight line of flavour. Savoury spice hovers over the just medium bodied frame. A close of richness to give a coda of power.
95 points
Pale lemon hue. Floral and fragrant. Pomme fruit and blossom, easy roast roast nut delicacy, soft honey, bread crust, ground salt and grapefruit pith. Such flow and evenness with incredibly complex layers of fruit and winemaking that swirl and writhe seamlessly. Length and drive, finesse and power. Wondrous rich lines of grapefruit and stone fruit sewn together with taut filament and wrapped so gently, to create an exquisite, benchmark wine.
96 points
A layered and energetic Chardonnay from Tapanappa, this Piccadilly Valley comes from a cool and late vintage – the coolest of four successive cooler years from 2020.
Seeing a third new French oak, a creme brulee and caramel creaminess talks to me along with cashews and almonds. Glace pineapple, figs, yellow peaches and barbecued nectarines light things up along with a good dose of green apple. The more I scratch the surface the more I find. A rub of butterscotch pushes forward with some lemon juice on its tail and a cheeky cameo of vanilla pod. So layered but drying with a chalky feel, it seems a little short-tempered for now. That tight shape will have it singing with some more bottle age and I reckon it will be humming in a few years.
Drink 2026 to eight years.
94 points
And you thought the Tiers 1.5m was something special? Woah! This is a treat and then some. The Tiers from Tapanappa has quite rightly built itself a reputation over the years and this further cements its standing as one of the premier Chardonnays in Australia.
From the coolest of four consecutive cool vintages, the vines were planted in 1979. It’s worth noting that this was the first vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley.
A wine with some tension and fabulous complexity, mind you, I found the layers more detailed in the 1.5m Chardonnay. Focused, scents of flint and barbecued nectarines leap from the glass. It possesses a calm presence with a soft soul highlighted by figs, cashews and vanilla cream building interest and momentum with time in the glass. Delicate white fleshed stonefruit adds to its glorious shape and effortless delivery as do some biscuity nuances. Grapefruit acidity offers the parting gift. Oh my, that tang! This will age beautifully if you can hold out that long. A brilliant Chardonnay.
Drink to eight years+
96 points
Lighty toasted cashewnut aroma, hints of vanilla and almond-meal, the palate refined and tense, concentrated and yet seamlessly textured and composed. The wine is very smooth and rounded, with plenty of acidity but you barely feel it. Lovely depth of flavour and balance. Nigh-invisible oak; long carry. Superb chardonnay.
96/100
Restrained straw/dried-herb aromas, the palate searingly intense with strong lemon/grapefruit flavours and lively acidity which is felt throughout the mouth. Intense, focused and bright on the tongue, super-refreshing and almost tangy, with a gorgeous fruit-sweet core and a cleansing, refreshing aftertaste.
95/100
Finesse and purity all the way. The step up in class is evident compared to the Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay, this Tapanappa Tiers 1.5m is calming and stylish with a charismatic swagger.
It glides and sways with ease. The presence of the fruit is seamless in its combination with the oak, the highlight being the precise fusion with the acidity ensuring there is no start point or end point – that’s class right there.
From a close-planted site (2003), white-fleshed stonefruit, juicy yellow grapefruit and fine drizzles of lemon juice seek your favour. A fine nutty appeal works in unison with a delicate textural presence. A little custard powder creaminess and a vanilla bean pannacotta drive add further layers of interest, but that length! The little tug of tension suggests this is something worth tucking away for a little while at least but it’s the grapefruit acidity and tang on close that I adore. Woah! It’s just glorious Chardonnay.
96 points
The Tapanappa label is the result of a 40+ year mission of veteran winemaker Brian Croser and his family to make world-class wines from the most “distinguished sites” in South Australia. The Foggy Hill vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula might not be an obvious contender as a site for world-class pinot, but it delivers big time with this vibrant and spicy example of classic terroir-driven varietal character. There is plenty of length here and aging potential, too, given its serious complexity, but it is a lovely wine right now that I give 95 points. Impressive stuff.
95 Points
RESPECTED AUSTRALIAN WINEMAKERS BRIAN CROSER AND LOUISA ROSE SHARE THEIR VIEWS ON THE WORLD-RENOWNED AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE BEING BLED DRY BECAUSE OF EVER-DECREASING FUNDING.
The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) is 70 years old next year.
One of us has been admiring and utilising their work for more than 50 of those 70 years, the other for only 33.
All Australian vignerons have been benefitting from the work of the AWRI, whether they know and appreciate it or not.
Rankine’s SO2 measurement apparatus.
Sommer’s elucidation of the role of anthocyanins in wine colour and quality.
William’s study of labile terpenes and their release from glycosidic bonds to become aromatic and flavoursome.
Henschke’s yeast and bacterial selections for commercial industry use.
Godden’s validation of the screwcap as a superior alternative to cork.
Chasing Brettanomyces out of Australian cellars and wines.
Identifying and measuring the compounds responsible for smoke taint.
Elucidating the role of nitrogen and sulphur compounds in Chardonnay wine quality.
Cracking the genetic code of Chardonnay clones to identify their provenance and quality in Australian vineyards.
Sustainable Winegrowing Australia…
These are a few of the wonderful things to come out of the AWRI, co-designed to directly help Australian vignerons.
The global technicians of grape and wine look on in admiration, envy and emulation of the AWRI and its discoveries.
The AWRI is able to recruit and retain the world’s best grape and wine brains because of its stellar reputation and the unique funding model it has enjoyed based on the industry self-applied levies on grape and wine production and export sales.
Levy revenue hypothecated to the AWRI by Wine Australia and its predecessors have underwritten the core capabilities and stability of the AWRI since its inception and establishment at the University of Adelaide Waite Campus in 1955.
AWRI is a small research institute that generates a modest income from providing analytical services via Affinity Labs, to industry which it does at a significant discount to commercially operated services overseas.
AWRI is wholly dependent on government-matched levy revenue to maintain the core of expertise and equipment that allow it to innovate, service and solve problems for the Australian wine community.
Imagine our surprise to read in the Wine Australia Independent Performance Review recently conducted by consulting firm ACIL Allen and published on Wednesday on WA’s website.
“The Australian Wine Research Institute which receives a large proportion of the R&I budget, is seen as high cost and inefficient in its delivery of R&I as well as its engagement with industry.”
This claim was repeated twice for emphasis in the document.
Who sees it that way and on what basis did they draw that conclusion?
We know what the answer will be, “ACIL Allen have interviewed 60 wine companies across the spectrum of size and region, and they have collectively or in a majority delivered that conclusion.”
We wonder whether there was overlap of those companies interviewed, as ACIL Allen concurrently helped assemble the much commented on One Sector Plan while on Wine Australia’s payroll?
Wine Australia would not come to that conclusion in their Performance Review without the validation and support of a selection of 60 Australian wine producers.
Meanwhile the vast majority of the 2,000+ Australian wine producers are completely and innocently ignorant of the current dilemma besetting the AWRI, because it has been evolving behind Wine Australia confidentiality curtains for at least three years.
A little history is to be endured here!
The total matched grape and wine R&I revenue stream is currently about $25 million per annum.
At its peak in 2010 the revenue income to the AWRI was $15 million in today’s dollars.
From there it diminished as competing services were funded until it was $8.5 million in 2020.
AWRI estimates it requires $8 million per annum of guaranteed levy income to maintain its core capacities – people, bricks and mortar, scientific equipment and operating.
In 2020, Wine Australia planned to further diminish that revenue significantly but after the intervention of Australian Grape & Wine and some bruising board battles, a four-year package of $30 million was agreed between WA and the AWRI, $7.5 million per annum, as a continuation of the ‘special relationship’ between the two bodies that has existed for most of the AWRI’s 70 years. That agreement runs to 30 June 2026.
Despite the agreement, since September 2021 there have been protracted negotiations between AWRI and WA about the research portfolio that have delayed the promised revenue stream of $7.5 million per annum.
Then the 2023 vintage intervened, delivering just 1.32 million tonnes of Australian grapes against the long-term average of more than 1.7 million tonnes. Less tonnes, less levy collection, and less Commonwealth matching funds.
A claw back clause of nearly $1.5 million in the special funding agreement between WA and AWRI, has been exercised by WA for 2023/2024 based on the reduced harvest.
WA are still spending about $25 million on R&I and Extension and Adoption in 2023/2024 but the AWRI will only be entitled to $6 million.
Of that $6 million, $2 million is destined to support AWRI’s extension and adoption role.
WA have announced, as a result of the performance review, they will implement a competitive bid process for the role of extension and adoption to the Australian wine community and are employing an extension and adoption coordinator based at WA.
This is estimated to further reduce AWRI’s budget by about $800,000.
We are now down to $5.2 million against a minimum requirement of $8 million to keep the AWRI as a viable, capable grape and wine research institute.
Because of the ‘death by a thousand cuts’ negotiation process that WA and the AWRI have been exercising for the last three years, the revenue stream to AWRI will be even less than $5.2 million for 2023/2024.
The Australian wine community deserve answers to two questions that arise from the defenestration of the AWRI.
Where and how is WA applying the revenue taken from the AWRI to achieve greater benefit and impact for the Australian wine community?
Has WA considered the effect of their actions on the AWRI and on Australia’s reputation as a global leader in grape and wine technology?
When the results of WA’s actions become apparent to the 2,000 Australian wine producers, we are confident they will be surprised and say we definitely need a viable AWRI.
When our overseas colleagues and friends in the wine business become aware of the diminution of the AWRI they will be amazed that the Australian wine community could so damage one of its greatest competitive advantages.
…and who will be there to support industry during the next industry crisis?
– Brian Croser and Louisa Rose
by Brian Croser
The Australian wine industry has squandered three decades being confused about the differences between premium and non-premium wine and where the opportunities really lie. Brian Croser reports.
Imagine the world without America and China. I don’t mean their geographic absence, rather imagine after the Australian wine industry’s 1990s growth spurt, that the export boom to the USA from 2002 to 2009 didn’t happen and similarly the China export boom from 2014 to 2020 didn’t occur.
What would the Australian wine industry look like today?
The answer is exactly as it does today.
Both booms came and went but the underlying trends of wine sales and production remain constant through the last 22 years. Australia currently produces about 1.7 million tonnes of grapes per annum based on the last 10-year average; 1.25 million tonnes (73 percent) come from the hot inland irrigation regions and the balance, 450,000 tonnes (27 percent) from the other, cooler regions.
That’s almost exactly as it was in 2001.
The tables are turned for the value of grapes; the inland regions provide only 43 percent of total grape value and the cooler regions 57 percent.
Easy to produce, harder to sell.
Sales of Australian wine in the combined export and domestic market are divided between premium and non-premium.
Premium wine is defined by a price of more than US$10/bottle (A$15/bottle) in the domestic market and exported at more than A$5/litre FOB, roughly equivalent price points in their respective markets. Non-premium is sold and shipped at less than these values.
For the past 22 years, the volume of premium wine sales in the domestic market has grown by six percent per annum. Unfortunately, we don’t have domestic market values for those 22 years, but we can assume value has grown in line with volume for premium wine (six percent per annum) for the period.
After 2001, premium wine has shown no volume growth in the underlying export markets after the USA and China booms came and went. Despite no growth of premium export volume, premium wine export value has grown by two percent per annum, still less than inflation. For non-premium wine, healthy volume growth of 3.3 percent per annum in export markets over the 22 years, has been accompanied by a loss of value of one percent per annum.
Ignoring the blip of the China boom, the export volume growth for non-premium wine all occurred in the first decade of the century. In the last 10 years non-premium wine has lost 13 percent of its volume of export sales.
The domestic market has been drifting backwards for non-premium wine at a rate of –0.7 percent per annum.
The star performer over the past 22 years has been premium wine in the domestic market.
Ten years ago, in 2013, the US export boom had well and truly ended, and the China boom had not started. The China boom had finished by 2020. For the 10-year period 2013 to 2023, uninfluenced by the China boom, combined domestic and export premium wine have grown by 1.8 percent per annum in volume and 4.3 percent in value.
Combined domestic and export sales of non-premium has contracted by –2.2 percent per annum in volume and –1.8 percent in value over the 10 years. That exactly mirrors the global picture for all wine from all countries for all markets.
Global 10-year growth of premium wine value is 3.1 percent per annum and for non-premium wine there is a loss of value of -2.2 percent per annum.
That’s the past, what of the future?
We can assume the global trends are continuing.
The future for non-premium wine in an oversupplied, diminishing export market is for increased marketing competition and lower prices. Australia with its remoteness and high cost base is not well positioned to compete in a market where the lowest cost producer will eventually win.
In the domestic market, Australian non-premium wine will continue to out-compete other country suppliers, because of customer loyalty and proximity of market. Australian non-premium wine producers will retain high market share of a diminishing domestic market.
That’s as long as the quality keeps increasing.
The two big growth opportunities for Australia are premium wine in the domestic and in export markets. Both premium markets are expanding in sales volume and value, quicker in value than in volume. Australia is way underperforming in the premium export market, having no underlying volume growth over the past 10 years, despite a healthy value increase of 3.3 percent per annum, more than keeping up with inflation.
The global premium market is expanding in volume by 1.7 percent per annum and Australian premium exports should be at least matching that performance.
Back in the domestic market, imports are now 20 percent of volume and 31 percent of value of all wine sold. Imports are more than 100 million litres per annum costing $1 billion, pretty much all premium wine at a very high average price in excess of $10/litre and growing at 3 percent per annum.
Australia needs a healthy wine import market, spiking consumer interest and knowledge and willingness to trade up. However, Australian wine lists in restaurants tend to be import centric, especially at the higher price points.
Even in its own domestic market Australian premium wine does not have the same aura nor creates the same consumer excitement and willingness to spend, as do the wines from the great terroirs of Europe. Australia has the regions, terroirs, winemakers and wines to replace a healthy slice of current imports.
Even replacing a quarter of current imports would absorb another 40,000 tonnes of premium Australian grapes and generate $250 million retail income for Australian wine producers. It would require a strong promotion of Australia’s unique terroirs and wines to knowledgeable Australian consumers to reverse the growth of the imported fine wine market share.
If Australia was able to boost premium export volume sales to the global average of 1.7 percent per annum and maintain a 3.3 percent per annum value increase, that would profitably absorb another 10,000 tonnes of premium Australian grapes over the next five years.
Currently Australia is producing on average 1.7 million tonnes of grapes and is selling wine made from 1.31 million tonnes. There is a 390,000-tonne structural grape surplus nearly equally divided between premium regions (210,000 tonnes) and non-premium (180,000 tonnes), calculated by comparing the sales volumes of premium and non-premium wines against the respective production of grapes of each type.
The premium grape surplus displaces non-premium grapes in the production of non-premium wine, so most of the grape surplus is generated from the inland vineyards. Because non-premium white grape supply is in better balance with sales, most of the surplus is inland red grapes.
Using the current 10-year volume CAGRs for Australian premium and non-premium wines in combined domestic and export markets, 1.8 percent per annum growth for premium and a contraction of -2.2 percent for non-premium, the structural surplus only gets worse. In five years, premium wine will have absorbed another 22,000 tonnes of grapes but non-premium will have generated another 60,000 tonnes of surplus inland fruit.
These are brutal statistical facts.
Despite 2023 being the smallest harvest since 2007, precipitating a slight reduction in inventory, the national wine inventory is 300 million litres above the 10-year average against combined domestic and export market sales that have diminished by 14 percent over that time.
At inland wine extraction rates, that’s at least 400,000 tonnes of grapes equivalent in surplus inventory.
Then there’s China. Or there used to be China.
At its peak in 2018/2019, the Chinese market was importing about 52 million litres of premium Australian wine, the equivalent of 80,000 tonnes of cooler region grapes and 124 million litres of non-premium wine, the equivalent of 165,000 tonnes of inland grapes.
The non-premium market for Australian wine in China began plummeting even before the imposition of the draconian import duties.
If and when the China market reopens for Australian wine, it is likely to be a very subdued return with a strong preference for premium wine. International competitors have occupied our slot and they will be difficult to dislodge, especially in the contracting Chinese market. In the medium term, with care, we may win back the market equivalent of 50,000 tonnes of mainly premium grapes.
A bad outcome would be the accrued non-premium inventory surplus being ‘dumped’ into China, cruelling the pitch for an orderly return of Australia’s premium wines to that market.
The crystal ball into the future of Australian wine is looking fairly cracked.
If Australia was Europe the future would be adjusted by the state subsidisation of the distillation of the excess 300 million litres of non-premium inventory and a payment to grape producers in the inland to uproot at least 15 to 20,000 hectares of vines to eliminate the structural surplus of 390,000 tonnes of grapes.
The EU has just announced they will provide A$111 million to Bordeaux vignerons to uproot 9,300 hectares of vines.
Australia is not Europe.
In Australia market forces will be left to prevail.
The 390,000-tonne structural surplus will dissipate through lower cropping regimes in premium and non-premium regions, fruit left on the vine and the inevitability of vines being removed, mainly in the inland.
That process is already underway and let’s hope it is selective, removing the worst varieties and vineyards thereby increasing the quality of Australia’s residual grape harvest.
As the global market for non-premium wine deteriorates further on trend, Australia needs continuous reassessment to inform growers of their prospects and allow rational choices to be made.
Australia may not have a grape harvest of more than 1.5 million tonnes for many years.
It will require a strong focus on grape and wine quality improvement and an even stronger effort to promote Australia’s unique regions, terroirs, wines and winemakers to restore the Australian wine community to profitable growth.
The premium wine opportunity for more than 2,000 fine winemakers is palpable. We have squandered three decades being confused about the differences between premium and non-premium wine and where the opportunities really lie.
As I have said before, the tea leaves are screaming at us.
Very light lemon and lime tints. Lime curd and white flowers on the nose. Palate shows similar characters with the addition of baking pastry and a seaside minerality, adding complexity and character to the flow. Acidity works well in the background, there’s ample fruit intensity as it drives long to the dry finish.
93/100
Light yellow-straw colour; nougat aromas, toasted nuts and honey, the palate delicate, refined, high-acid and tangy, refreshing and bright on the tongue. A vibrant and intense, piercingly focused wine that lingers long and refreshes. The fruit is doing most of the talking. Delicious.
93/100
Sassafras, bing cherry, licorice root and orange balm. Filigreed tannins and a diaphanous weave of freshness and pungency, with a moreish core of porcini dashi. Yet the end result is a lighter weighted pinot in an Australian context. Refreshing enough, but a bit thin. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
93 Points
Smoked charcuterie notes are muddled with cardamon, dill and white pepper, conferring a savory tone without straying into verdancy. Red cherry, orange zest and rhubarb. A lovely mid-weighted pinot, fleet of foot and balletic. A refined kit of sinuous tannins, crunchy acidity and the judicious use of whole bunches meld into a detailed structural lattice, evincing an authoritative tension. Lovely wine. Drink or hold. Screw cap.
94 Points
This expressive wine displays impressive purity of fruit with excellent volume of dark cherry, dried herbs and terracotta aromas which are still tightly coiled and building. Quite structural in style with flavours of red earth and ironstone topped by a dusting of potpourri before a finish of supreme length. It is a sophisticated style, and takes a little time to get to know, but is well worth the effort.
Lovely generous aromas of berry compote, damp earth, truffle and spice are seamless intertwined with quality French oak. It then takes a more savoury turn with touches of wood smoke, freshly turned earth with spicy, stalky tones building towards a meaty finish with firm drying tannins. A very serious Pinot expression that needs time to come out of its shell but will deliver in spades.
92 Points
Drink: 2028-2035
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Cellar Door opens daily, 11am – 4pm
15 SPRING GULLY ROAD
PICCADILLY SA 5151
PHONE (08)7324 5301
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