Recognition

Tiers Vineyard replanted in 2003 to clones 76 and 95 at 1.5m row spacing. Close planting produces earlier ripening and fuller flavours, yielding a generous style in this warm year. Pristine white peach fruit glimpses at mandarin exotics, underscored by toasty, spicy, honeyed French oak. The signature tense acidity of this cool site defines a lively,

 » Read more about: Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay 2019 – 92 points Silver  »

450m elevation; planted 1979, the first vineyard in the modern Adelaide Hills. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its planting, this fabled site experienced a much warmer vintage than average in 2019. Classic fig and white peach notes have edged toward orange and mandarin exoticism, carrying all the power of Tiers in a full-bodied palate of spicy,

 » Read more about: Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 – 93 points Silver  »

Light yellow colour. The nose is reductive, smoky matchstick, a kiss of oak too, in balance. Small flowers, quite lovely fruit-driven aromas. The palate is soft and round and refined, tapering a bit towards the back. The acid is a trifle firm, but the steeliness would help it go with food. Mouth-watering finish. It’s young and will be even better next year.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

If you cast your mind back to the very beginning of Covid last year you might think the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse got a head start when fires ravaged many vineyards in the Eastern States. But their work was only beginning

With extreme heat, fire, smoke and then rain, you could assume that as vintages go this was close to Hell.

 » Read more about: Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

The chardonnay vines on the Tiers Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley are all now well over 30 years old though some were planted in the late 1970s. This is an intense glide of beautiful chardonnay flavour. It had me hooked straight up. There’s an amount of struck match character here too, for the record, though the pear,

 » Read more about: “It had me hooked straight up” 2020 The Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

A beautiful piece of wine machinery. Precision is everything here. That, and purity. Nectarine, lemon curd, flint, cream and cedar characters. It’s pure, focused and long; it’s scintillating. Drink this now and it’s spectacular but its best days remain ahead.

95 points

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M chardonnay  »

This vineyard was close planted along French lines with French clones and it really does have an impact on the wine. The extended time on full lees until February 2021 had also played a part in building palate texture and complexity. Notes of nougat and cashew with a creamy light butterscotch and peachy nectarine character are so engaging.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M chardonnay  »

This wine hails from the celebrated Tiers Vineyard, but there are subtle differences at play which imbues it with a different personality to the Tiers flagship wine.

• It’s younger in vine age, planted 2003.
• It’s planted to French Bernard clones and is earlier ripening.
• It’s close-planted, hence the reference to 1.5M (1.5 metre spacing).

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M chardonnay  »

If chardonnay is indeed making a comeback, it’s through wines like these where much of the excitement dwells. The trio of Tapanappa Adelaide Hills chardonnays are about cool climate viticulture, attention to detail and commitment to a style that is very much about projecting the quality of the fruit in any given vintage. The Tiers is the high point in the chardonnay collection,

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

“It’s young and will be even better next year” – 2020 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay

Light yellow colour. The nose is reductive, smoky matchstick, a kiss of oak too, in balance. Small flowers, quite lovely fruit-driven aromas. The palate is soft and round and refined, tapering a bit towards the back. The acid is a trifle firm,

 » Read more about: 2020 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

“Potential Plus” – 2020 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay

Light straw colour. Cashew nut, straw, biscuit and creamy lees aromas, restrained and fresh and delicate, but extremely intense and concentrated on the middle palate. The acidity is searing, a trifle domineering perhaps, but will easily be absorbed by any food. Long, long persistence. Potential plus.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

Light straw colour. Cashew nut, straw, biscuit and creamy lees aromas, restrained and fresh and delicate, but extremely intense and concentrated on the middle palate. The acidity is searing, a trifle domineering perhaps, but will easily be absorbed by any food. Long, long persistence. Potential plus. 07 APR 2021
2021–2032

95 points

 » Read more about: 2017 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

With Spring approaching this 20 March, white wines may begin to take an edge this time of year. Whether looking for crisp and refreshing styles or complex and full bodied, South Australia’s top-scoring white wines from the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards seem to encompass it all…

2018 Tapanappa, Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, Piccadilly Valley (Adelaide Hills)
Rich and smoky on the nose,

 » Read more about: “South Australia’s top-scoring white wines: 20 to try” – 2018 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

With Spring approaching this 20 March, white wines may begin to take an edge this time of year. Whether looking for crisp and refreshing styles or complex and full bodied, South Australia’s top-scoring white wines from the 2020 Decanter World Wine Awards seem to encompass it all…

2018 Tapanappa, Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, Piccadilly Valley (Adelaide Hills)
Rich and smoky on the nose,

 » Read more about: “South Australia’s top-scoring white wines: 20 to try” – 2018 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

All class. Layers to bouquet and palate, inward concentration, exceptional length and fine tuned oak/lees work implicit. It offers nectarine to marzipan and cinnamon spice. The palate shows richness but freshness of acidity with a core of flint-like minerality. Righteous stuff.
94 points

 » Read more about: “Righteous stuff. All class” – 2016 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

Pale straw-colored, the 2019 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard comes from the original plantings made in 1979 at 450 meters above sea level. Entirely barrel-fermented in one-third new French oak with the balance in second- and third-use barrels, it boasts subtle scents of pencil shavings accenting ripe melon and citrus. Medium-bodied, generous and silky in feel, with more pineapple flavors evident on the palate,

 » Read more about: An exquisite wine from an extraordinary vintage – SOLD OUT 2019 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

Very light, bright yellow hue. A powerfully expressive bouquet of cashew-nutty, oaky, oatmeal biscuit aromas, the palate very intense and penetrating, concentrated and high-impact. The finish is ultra-dry, appetising and refreshing. The intensity is almost forbidding in its youth. An excellent wine; better in another year or two.
96 points

 » Read more about: The intensity is almost forbidding in its youth. An excellent wine; better in another year or two – SOLD OUT 2019 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

Huon Hooke
Huon Hooke

Light, bright yellow hue. Gently smoky, nutty, straw-like bouquet, complex and gently reductive, the palate fine and tensioned, precise and delicate yet intense and long. It has a delicious core of sweet stone-fruit flavour balanced by a refreshing, crisply tart finish. A slightly subtler, more restrained, refined wine than the old-vine Tiers.

 » Read more about: A slightly subtler, more restrained, refined wine than the old-vine Tiers – 2019 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

We are very excited to announce the Tiers Vineyard 2019 Chardonnay was listed in the Drinks Business 10 Best Chardonnay’s for 2020 after winning GOLD at the 2020 Drinks Business Global Chardonnay Masters in December for the fifth year running.

This continues a fantastic run for the Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, building on it’s worldwide reputation,

 » Read more about: The 10 Best Chardonnay’s of 2020 – 2019 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

The journey of refining a wine from a “distinguished site” is a long one full of self-doubt. How does the vigneron know that quality from a vineyard is improving year on year and that wine-style is refining. Mostly it is achieved through self-assessment, the vigneron comparing vintage after vintage from the same vineyard and using comparison of wines from the same variety and style intent from comparable regions in Australia and internationally.

 » Read more about: Decanter World Wine Awards *Gold Medal* – 2018 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

This is now the third bottle of Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2018 and each time it gets better. Now officially at ‘phwoar’ level.
For a little context about Tiers, you need to start here. In my mind, this is the model of restrained power – an acknowledgement that Chardonnay can be both bold and refreshing,

 » Read more about: Chardonnay satisfaction – now officially at ‘phwoar’ level – 2018 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

There’s a very attractive, chalky edge here with a flinty note, as well as grapefruit pith and peaches. The palate has very assertive acidity, holding sway over white stone fruit and a long, dry and satisfytingly savory finish. Drink or hold. Screw cap. 

94 points

 » Read more about: 2018 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

Brian Croser’s ode to his halcyon youth when California first convinced him that high quality chardonnay was indeed possible outside of Burgundy. This rich, fully flared chardonnay hails from a younger plot of the famed Tiers vineyard, tended lower to the ground and planted to earlier ripening French clones at tighter densities. This encourages competition among vines and with that,

 » Read more about: 2018 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay – 94 points, Silver  »

This is a spectacular chardonnay, eschewing malolactic in the name of precision and freshness, while sacrificing nothing in the way of flavour and textural detail in doing so. A reductive riff of gunflint segues to notes of white fig, honeydew melon, nectarine and creamed cashew. A chassis of mineral and bright acidity carry the flavours long and broad, chaperoned by high class oak that is nestled into the fray.

 » Read more about: 2018 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay – 97 points, Gold  »