Recognition

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; …

From a close planted block established in 2003. Bernard clones 76 and 95. It’s distinctly different to the Tiers old vine Chardonnay as a result, and I tend to think it’s the clonal selection that’s the biggest point of difference. …

This has to rank up there with the best of the Tiers Vineyard chardies yet released. It was an ever so slightly warmer vintage than the previous and this is reflected in the depth and fruit concentration expressed with relative …

Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Tiers Vineyard (Alt. 450m) Chardonnay 2023, $110. About as much going on as a chardonnay can provide and all of it good. Somewhat lighter than exxy chardonnays are renowned, and better for it. Alas, few will discover …

The 2022 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard 1.5m is exactly what I expected it to be: excellent. A piercing intensity of flavor is matched by the piercing (and juicy) acidity. It fills the mouth side to side with sapid, staining fruit and …

The Tapanappa 2022 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard is one of Australia’s great Chardonnays, and that has never been more apparent than in this 2022 vintage. A superstar wine of grand proportions, the fruit has startling intensity in the mouth. The juicy …

The 2023 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay has elderflower and white peach, pressed flowers and kiwi fruit, custard apples and scraped vanilla pod. The wine is delicate but also powerful and finishes in a spooling flourish of flavor and salty acidity. A …

From the Hills pioneer Chardonnay vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley, immediately a class above, lovely ripe white stone fruit aromas, subtle creaminess and flaked white nuts, everything deliciously balanced and edged with underlying citrussy acidity, chardonnay fruit magic vital to …

A flashy and deeply brooding chardonnay with aromas of nectarines, peaches, Meyer lemons and gun smoke. The palate is medium-bodied with vivid acidity and a generous mouthfeel, giving notes of grapefruit pith, orange blossoms and chalk. Very complex with underlying …

Fresh aromas of minerals, lemon peel, gun smoke and grapefruit. The palate is medium-bodied with focused acidity and a textural mouthfeel, giving notes of lime curd, orange blossoms, shortbread, flint and baking spices. Wonderfully balanced, with both power and vivid …

Appealing and complex nose of lemon, honey, melon and a touch of spiced peach with some hints of gunflint and oak spice. On the palate it has a lovely balance of freshness and focused fruit, with a refined and quite …

Hailing from Adelaide Hills’ oldest block of Chardonnay – which was planted in 1979 – is this outstanding white from the brilliant winemaker that is Brian Croser. Although rich in flavours, it’s light in texture, with a clean, citrusy sensation, …

It feels Grinchish, but I’d rather drink the 1.5m Chardonnay now. That’s because, as this vertical showed, Tiers needs a good five years to show its best, not one. Especially from a vintage that was cool (1093C vs the …