Recognition

There’s so much tension and purity, with restrained aromas of grilled lemons, gunpowder, flint and white orchard fruit. The palate is mid-weighted with a great core of fruit, lovely underlying freshness and bright acidity, with a minerally and fruit-driven finish. …

This is excellent, with so much clarity and precision. Aromas of minerals, struck match, grapefruit, flint, crushed stones, white orchard fruit and talc. The palate is tightly wound, with vivid acidity, generous underlying power and saline and yeasty notes. Delicious …

A beautiful release here; 15% whole bunch, nine months in French oak, 30% of which was new. Elements of struggle, the cooler-than-usual vintage and minute yields have contributed to a concise and certain wine. Prismatic red fruits cast light over …

Class, elegance and dangerously silky, what a superb and precise Pinot Noir from Tapanappa.

A wine that is measured with a terrific line of detail from a cool and low-yielding vintage, the longer it sits in the glass, the more …

Aromas of rose petal, forest floor, and dark cherry combine on a seductive bouquet. Length of palate is a strong point, as are the fine tannins and almost subliminal oak. Reviewed September 2025.

 5 Stars…

This is quite a structured and intense pinot noir from this cool vintage. The colour is quite pale but that can be deceptive as the aroma explodes with a mix of florals and strawberry before you delve into a palate …

Planted in 2003 to clones 115 and 777. The block is called Definitus, which is certainly a more lively name than, say, Block 28. It’s screwcap sealed.

Strawberry, dried herb and flowers, mint, cedar and spice. It’s medium-bodied, lightly poached …

⚖️ – Fairly priced for such a unique and well made Aussie Pinot

🕰️ – Drinks beautifully now, but its complexities emerged with 12hrs of airtime. No issues holding this for 5yrs +

Clear ruby with a gentle orange hue …

Wonderfully autumnal, this is a Tapanappa Foggy Hill Pinot Noir with soul, depth and a comforting embrace. It’s an excellent wine, hands down. From a vineyard planted 350 metres above sea level to the 777 clone, it saw eight months …

Made in a year so cold that only the clone 777 fruit ripened sufficiently, this wine is a marvel of delicacy as opposed to lightness. The nose shows delightfully perfumed cherry with a positive herbal edge. The finely structured palate …

This was a very cool growing season that produced very low crops, and yet the wine has triumphed. It’s a subtle medium-bodied pinot with bright, vibrant colours of red and purple. On the nose is a mix of strawberry conserve …

I have a weather station in my back yard. Last August there was 33.55 mm of rain for the whole month with an average temperature of 16.4c. In 2025, less than halfway through we are sitting at 294.38 mm of …

Citrus tang, quince, touch of leesy curds in the background. Palate is chock full of stonefruit, grapefruit acidity, quince. 

There’s a lovely unison between integrated oak – giving some foundation for the wine – and acid tension, giving flow and …

Exquisite close-planted Chardonnay. Chardonnay that melts your mouth – along with any resistance you might have to its charms – and provides sublime carriage of flavour. Stonefruit, frangipane, grapefruit acidity. Subtle hints of ginger spice – particularly in that long …

Medium deep garnet to ruby rim still there. Still fresh with a core of berry fruit: black, boysen and blue. White pepper, powdered cocoa, cedar and vanilla still offering some winemaking influence. There’s a hint of development with nori sheet/beef …

Deep garnet with a soft velvet rim. Aromas complex and calm: rose petals, drinking cocoa and cassis with blueberries and raspberries, blood plum, new leather, cedar, a small amount of rosemary (leaf and flower), a touch of vanilla, graphite and …

Full and bright ruby colours in the glass. Blueberry, crushed sage and violets on the nose. Medium to full bodied, dark fruits sit in the core with Chinese five spice adding lift and detail to the flow. Fine-grained tannins carry …

Tapanappa Wrattonbully Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2015, $115. Didn’t women once wear whalebone in their corsets? Seems totally inappropriate for such a grand creature, which increases no end the credibility of this wine grown on the soil of long …

This wine has been held back for a prestigious re-release. It of course was reviewed some time ago on WineFront, with applause and praise given.

It’s in a beautiful spot. Almost a ‘pinosity’ to the wine, suppleness, medium weight, satiny …

It’s a heady mix of Merlot and Cabernet Franc (69/31%) from the cool 2015 vintage. Remnants of oak, cedar, redcurrant – all the more impressive for a wine at ten years to maintain a level of primary expression.

It was …

Bright red and youthful in the glass. Lifted and complex aromas of blackberry, Asian spice, nutmeggy oak, bramble, mulberry, dark cherry and pipe tobacco. Firm, structured, mouth-filling and generously flavoured. The tannins are firm and bring plenty of grip and …

What a stunning wine this is. It is made from fruit grown on the now 51-year-old Whalebone Vineyard on the Limestone Coast that was identified decades ago by wine industry veteran Brian Croser as “a distinguished site” capable of producing …

Although the nose shows a hint of maturity, the plum/blackberry fruit is impressively fresh. This exceptional wine is certainly an Australian Pomerol, and the powdery tannins interact seamlessly with the intense flavour.

5 stars

…

The ripe blackcurrant and mulberry aromatics carry a hint of leaf and subtle oak. An impressively long palate carries the fine, savoury tannins with ease. Cellar ten years at least.…