Recognition

Our 2013 Whalebone Vineyard has collected Gold at the 2017 Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters.

Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2012

66/34%, matured for 21 months in French oak (70% new). Spent close on 3 years making its way into bottle, an especially long time for a blend such as this, but it clearly needed

The Whalebone Vineyard was planted in 1974 and is, by all reports, a terrific site.
Cellarable? I definitely think so. It’s bold, tannic, thick with tar and plum flavours, and has integrated its smoky/cedary oak quite perfectly. Nothing sticks out;

Merlot-dominant blend – but don’t let that put you off.
It’s both fresh and substantial, oaked but brimful of fruit. It’s carved with tannin but the momentum of flavours charges through regardless. It tastes of boysenberry and black cherry, blackcurrant,

2015 Tiers Vineyard 1.5m Chardonnay

A new member of the Tapanappa chardonnay family, from the 2003 Tiers plantings at 1.5m spacing, producing an earlier ripening, softer and more generous style. The result is delightfully fragrant, packed with white peach and

“This vineyard is really starting to express its character, and the warmest vintage yet is loaded with personality. It holds itself with persistence and poise, at once fragrant and fruity and simultaneously savoury and structured, with fine, drying tannins reflective

The 2013 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay has just taken out a Master award at The Drinks Business 2015 International Chardonnay Masters.

You can read the full competition report here: https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2016/03/chardonnay-masters-2016-the-re…

About the competition:

The Global Masters is a series of blind

Top note of lime. Crystalline structure. Lots of acidity and definition. Still very youthful. Rather like a Chablis grand cru in structure. Wait!

16.5 points

Stem, soy, sesame – great fragrance, poise and delicacy plus plentiful cranberry crunch. The antithesis of the South Australia expectation!

17 points

Pale lemon hue with good intensity. Quite closed on the nose, primary and fresh with nuances of elderflower and fresh lime, macadamia and biscuit. Grapefruit-pith and green pear on the palate underpinned by a fine acidity that delineates the palate.

Pale yellow with medium color intensity in the glass. Pure aromas of grapefruit, acacia blossom and bees wax. The palate is similarly refined with succulent acidity and characters of lemongrass, cashew and white peach that glide effortlessly in the mouth.

Medium to full yellow colour. A complex but youthful lanolin, wool, nut-toffee and lightly floral bouquet gives entrée to a tight, slightly shrill, high-acid palate. Very fine, tight and long. The acidity is almost a tad overdone alone, but with

Let’s first deal with the regional point of difference: Brian Croser planted his pinot vineyards in this constantly coldest and wettest place starting 12 years back. The rewards are showing with stunningly pure aromas in the crushed cherry spectrum, the

Foggy Hill is a site that I yearn to visit. I’ve only taken the Southward drive down the Fleurieu coast the once, but I simply love that coastal drive, the child-like rolling hills that simply form, one into the other. …

Wine of the Week

If you are looking for a chardonnay with precision, purity and linearity you won’t go wrong with the delicious cool-climate chardonnay grown on a vineyard that veteran winemaker Brian Croser describes as producing fruit that provides

Brian Croser has produced another statuesque chardonnay that balances richness and generosity of flavour with tightness and brisk acidity. Superb.

96 points.

Definitively sophisticated in its sleek profile, offering satiny curves of ripe stone fruit, green apple and sexy, nougat-scented oak, the wine feels molten and flowing over it’s impressive length, but doesn’t forget to cleanse the palate with revitalising acidity. There’s

One of the very best in a distinguished line from the famous Adelaide Hills vineyard. Spicy, edgy lift on the nose, though it is on the palate that the brilliance of this wine really emerges. Deeply complex and powerful, yet

The greatness of Tiers shines, even in vines just 10 years of age. I love its lemon blossom fragrance, white peach concentration, tense magic acidity and seamless French oak, but most of all I love its fine, mineral, flinty texture.

Bright mid gold and showing a seamless, youthful style with prominent oak well balanced by pristine white peach, apple and praline fruit. dry, powerful and acid driven long lingering finish beautifully compact and effortless. A great vintage for Tapanappa.

Drinking …

Bright mid cherry colour. Sweet and pretty red cherry and raspberry fruit with a touch of new oak and attractive thyme herbal complexity.  More fruit forward than previous release in a quite rounded and lush style finishing with spicy earthy …

Light to medium yellow colour, the bouquet spicy, ginger-ish and showing a lick of honey. There are refined, tight, spice and nut flavours and the acidity is quite high-toned and crisp. Long carry. Excellent wine. Lively acid, and the palate

LOVELY fresh wine, with intense stone fruit flavours, light butters. Will be a favourite among quality chardonnay lovers.

FOOD: Chicken curry
RATING: 95/100

While some of the 2013 Adelaide Hills whites look just a little forward and flat, this Chardonnay seriously shines.

Much of that comes down to site – the Croser family’s Tiers vineyard, planted to Chardonnay in 1979, has that resilience