Recognition

A slightly warmer than average vintage. The nose has a bright and fresher floral edge with fresh violets. There is also an edge of brambly forest floor. The palate has a very plush and long, dark cherries. The fine tannins …

This is a strongly built wine destined for the long haul. The bouquet has rasp- berry, herb and mint, while the palate is deep, firm and has an ironstone-like character. Its abundant tannin will help it live and develop long-term.

A 66/34% blend, matured for 21 months in French oak (70%new). Still has excellent crimson-purple colour; spent close on 3 years making its way into bottle, an especially long time for a blend such as this, but it clearly needed

“This excellent red has little of the minty signature of the region, but is more a matter of violets, earth, forest-floor and dried flowers. There’s a trace of Vegemite, possibly from oak and/or lees contact.
In the mouth, it’s full-bodied

This is a super wine based on the Right Bank Bordeaux blend. Silky smooth and so elegantly structured, it features a lovely balance of fruit and fine-grained oak, with superb fine tannins. Nice touch of cedar on the nose. Will

This has “fine wine” written all over it – from complex scents of attractive, mahogany oak, to the seductive richness of dark and blue fruit layered through the wine. The powerful, fuller figured feel is shaped with powdery tannins, bayleaf

Deeply coloured. Dense choc mint, cedar, cassis and earthy fruits plus toasty oak. Dry, full and structural with slightly firm chewy tannins well balanced – a firm, robust and masculine style that needs time to settle but the quality is

Bright colour. Delicious blackberry, cedar and black pepper fruit – plus prominent oak. Dry and full bodied blackberry, plum compote, mint chocolate flavours with excellent concentration and length with plenty of tannins. Lovely now but with structure to age.

93

WINEMAKER Brian Croser packs a punch of flavours into his wines and here is another mouthful of moreish blackcurrants and spice. Excellent wine.

95/100

Wines like this don’t come our way very often. Not only is it complex and fragrant, showing red fruits and dusty tobacco leaf aromas, it wraps its compelling flavours in the finest of tannins. Definitely one of the wines of

Merlot and cabernet franc from 1974 plantings. 66/34 blend. Worthy of a spot in the jewellery drawer of Australian wine – you could argue.
This is a swashbuckler.

Tannic, herbal, chocolatey, rich, elegant and more. Warm too, pushing it, no

Still has excellent crimson-purple colour; has spent close on 3 years making its way into bottle, an especially long time for a blend such as this, but it clearly needed it; there is a complex interplay between cedar, cigar box,

All it needs is time…
Once the surprisingly sweet toasty oak integrates here this is going to be superb. It’s easily the biggest boned Tapa Pinot yet, but that weight and volume enhances the appeal. The flesh and swagger underneath

Arguably the best Tapanappa Pinot Noir to date. The bouquet is complex, with a light touch of oak. The fruit takes in both berries and plums, and the silky palate is as well balanced and focused as it is long.

A trio of reviews from Jancis Robinson

Tapanappa, Whalebone Vineyard 2009 Wrattonbully, 16.5+

“Mid blackish ruby. Firm and meaty on the nose. Actually it does not taste dominated by Cabernet. Subtle and appetising. Still with tannins in evidence but very

I have been quite a fan of Brian Croser’s Tapanappa wines, since being introduced to them when I visited him back in 2005. Making fine wine is a long-term project, especially when you are planting new vineyards. It takes the

This pinot noir has a lot of gravitas with a deep colour and spicy bouquet. It’s slightly oak dominant at first with black cherry emerging in time. It’s dense and persistent with satisfying flavour, backed by a spine of tannins.

A single vineyard pinot that is now showing glorious vintage sympathies, here everything ripe, spicy and dark fruited from a warm year, its balance and poise mesmerising.

In 2003 Brian Croser planted three Dijon clones of pinot noir at about 350 metres altitude on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula. Elevation and proximity to the cold Southern Ocean give Croser’s Foggy Hill site a unique microclimate, dramatically cooler than

From the Fleurieu Peninsula, this is the most savoury and dense of the trio, loaded with aromas of forest floor and smoky fire embers with rhubarb and dark cherry fruit freshened up by a tart, cranberry-like acidity.

93 points

“Just love winemaker Brian Croser and here is yet another winner from him. Best Aussie pinot I have tasted for a long while, worth the extra dollars.”

Rating: 97/100…

“Pretty strict and sappy, with peppery stalky bits, raspberry verging on framboise (liqueur), mint chocolate and cedar. Light to medium bodied, strawberry and raspberry, clarity of acidity is attractive and shape is excellent. Stalky notes on the nose are a

Quite fascinating to watch the relatively young Foggy Hill Vineyard reveal its identity via Pinot Noir. There’s already a distinct flavour profile and it’s no shrinking violet. Despite that I reckon it does taste varietal and it is one of

Strong, clear and deep colour; a thoroughly serious pinot noir, with a fragrant bouquet followed by a black cherry and plum palate with excellent texture and structure; tannins and oak are woven through the mid-palate and into the finish. Will …