Recognition

One of the great Chardonnay makers worldwide, Tapanappa manages to craft something delicious from the greatest sites in Adelaide Hills year after year. Toasty aromatics entice, while the palate indulges with initial notes of caramel and pencil shaving, then comes …

A very refined nose, with crisp lemon and bright grapefruit zest, overlaid with oak spice. The palate has a bracing tension and textural interest, with freshness and balance, plus focused fruit with elegance and length. Well-integrated, beautifully balanced and deliciously …

I feel like I should curtsey before drinking this wine. What a treat. Such elegance. Such restraint. Green papaya, yellow grapefruit and Geraldton wax. It’s timeless – the only thing unsophisticated about this wine is me drinking it. The palate …

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 …

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 …

The punchy, youthful single-vineyard 2024 Chardonnay 1.5M is sure to impress with its combination of raw power and subtlety. Waves of peach skin and nectarine aromas are complemented by white flowers and a creamy cashew nut complexity. Compact and surprisingly …

The more sophisticated and reserved 2024 Chardonnay Tiers is a little shy and tightly coiled right now, offering up pristine aromas of melon and pear topped by fine oatmeal tones and spicy oak, with just a touch of smoky reduction. …

Here we have the pinnacle Chardonnay release from the first vineyard planted in the Piccadilly Valley since the 19th century. Restrained power is the term that comes to mind here. It’s tight and focussed, yielding enough aromatic presence to get …

Named on account of the 1.5 metre spacing between vine rows. Fresh, tightly wound and elegant aromas of white peach and cedar kick things off, followed by green apple, Meyer lemon, peach blossom, nectarine pulp and cinnamon. There’s a taut …

The original Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay planted in 1979 in the Piccadilly Valley was the first Adelaide Hills vineyard to unknown clones. 2024, though slightly warmer, was yet another cooler vintage in the run since 2020. Modest cropping of 4 tonnes …

2024, though slightly warmer continued a run of cool vintages. French oak barriques (1/3 new) for fermentation (2 months through Autumn). Barrel aged on full lees until October 2024, before racking off and then a November bottling.

Pale lemon colour …

Fruit is picked from a close-planted block that was planted in ’03. This is wonderful chardonnay – all finesse, tension, filigreed minerality, light, savoury undertones and pristine, bright green pear, nectarine and pink grapefruit freshness. Touches of nougat, sea spray …

From the first Croser vineyard, planted ’79. A potent and rich chardonnay of distinguished power and presence. It’s set at a riper pace but feels supremely balanced and delivers emphatic notions of quality. Rich pear notes, dried and fresh, honeyed …

Bright and vibrant in the glass. The aromas are lifted and layered, cashew nut, white stone fruit, nougat, melon skin and white flowers. Powerful and mouth-filling in flavour, but with fabulous balance and purity. There’s a seamlessness to the palate, …

Complex and layered aromas of cashew nut, just-ripe white stone fruit, wheat puff, white flowers and grapefruit pith. Fine, focused and layered in flavour. There’s a drive of stone fruit, melon and a nutty creaminess. Pithy, crunchy acidity then kicks …

The 2024 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard 1.5m is floral and fine, creamy and detailed. The wine shows pressed white flowers, jasmine tea, something creamy like crushed hazelnuts and white chocolate, Golden Delicious apples and saffron. The Bernard clones 76 and 95 …

The 2024 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay always ratchets up the fruit power and intensity from all other Chardonnays, both at Tapanappa and in the Adelaide Hills region at large. This usually gives us a thundering display of concentration and phenolic drive, …

Another superb Tiers Chardonnay highlighting the beauty achieved with the grape in the Adelaide Hills. Adjectives get a real work out with this wine. Ripe fruit is noted and while the alcohol suggests it might be bigger – 14.1% abv …

The use of 1.5m informs the drinker that a part of the vineyard has been close-planted – a 1.5 metre spacing between rows of vines – a fact that can excite some because of the suggestion of higher quality, amongst …

Wow! This is something. I know many prefer the Tiers Chardonnay, but for the last two years I have leaned towards this 1.5m and I don’t apologise for it. Elegance and purity seep through this wine’s veins and I …

Concentrated and focused, let this Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay breathe for now or give it some bottle age and it will pay you back in spades. A few days of tasting proved that. An excellent wine as ever, but it’s tightly …

Focused, powerful and lifted aromas of citrus blossoms, jasmine tea, pome fruits, lime, grapefruit, nectarine, cashew, hazelnut, toasted oats, nougat, white pepper, ginger, sweet dusty spices and a touch of brine.
In the mouth it’s powerful, intense and has an …

A pretty, perfumed and finely detailed nose of sweet citrus and apple blossoms, apple gums, donut peach, honeydew, honeyed cashew, white pepper, dried galangal and gently woven spice.

In the mouth it’s tightly coiled, tense and shaped like a Barracuda; …