Recognition

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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, …

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 …

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 …

I had to double-check the vintage on this wine but it’s definitely a 2023 in 2023. Not that there’s anything greatly unusual about that.

Pear, lemon, a little flint, and sprays of hay and sawdust. Pure of fruit and integrated …

This more generous vintage of Tapanappa Shiraz from 2018 delivers layers of dark cherry, fennel seed and cocoa aromas with fine oak well integrated. There is an excellent mix of power and subtlety to follow, flavours of fruit pastille and …

This controlled and well pitched Adelaide Hills Shiraz delivers ample blackberry, mulberry and liquorice aromas with a strong undercurrent of clove and allspice complexity. Compact and understated, it’s quite seamless now, the spicy aged complexity rising up in a plush …

This vineyard was planted on the Fleurieu Peninsula by Brian Croser 20 years ago and it quickly established a reputation for high class Pinot Noir. The 2022 was the outcome of a low cropping, cool vintage, which is reflected in …

This patch of Dijon clones sits in shallow soils on an ironstone ridge that generally means lower crops and earlier ripening. A combination of chalky limestone with an ever so slightly ferruginous character seems to come straight from the soils …

From a small area planted 1979, then replanted with Dijon clones on a very close 1.5m spacing, the fruiting wire only 50cm above ground level. The yellow grapefruit is almost painfully intense and mouth-watering, the finish hypnotic.

Drink to 2042…

Brian Croser’s flagship Pinot Noir, comes from just ten 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 (who among

Brian Croser is one of Australia’s most innovative and legendary winemakers, a reputation forged over decades. At the Foggy Hill Vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula, he has turned his hand to Pinot Noir. This example is from the fine 2022