The 2015 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay has picked up Gold in the recent Six Nations Wine Challenge.
Read about the Challenge here: http://sixnationswine.com.au
This has a lovely red-cherry and cherry-liqueur like bouquet laced with spices and some subtle foresty characters - possibly whole-bunch derived. It's showing considerable complexity already. The wine is full in the mouth and quite firm, with abundant youthful tannins. It's just a baby and needs more time to soften and mellow out. An excellent pinot.
95 points
2019 - 2032
Love this vineyard's wines and here is another great reason for you to get on board with them. A deeper coloured pinot reflecting more powerful red fruit flavours than you will discover in many pinots.
Rating 95/100
The beguilingly perfumed nose, suggestive of dark cherry and dried herbs, is captivating, and shows a whiff of oak. This supple, intense wine is a pleasure to drink, although the fine tannins provide the framework for cellaring. ★★★★☆
Our 2013 Whalebone Vineyard has collected Gold at the 2017 Global Cabernet Sauvignon Masters.
Top 10 Wines under $80- Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2015
Drink 2017-2025 | 96 points
The first vineyard planted in the modern era of the Adelaide Hills remains one of the greatest, producing chardonnay of profound generosity, exactingly honed with focused acidity and finely structured, mineral texture. In length, line and sheer, undeviating preci- sion, this is one of the greats.
Award: Platinum - Best Australian Chardonnay
Score: 95
Tasting notes:
Floral, smoke and citrus fruit bouquet. Great palate - pure, steely, stately and linear. There's great poise and concentration here, with flavours of white peaches, lemon pith and spice. The balance and length are admirable. Will develop well.
Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2012
66/34%, matured for 21 months in French oak (70% new). Spent close on 3 years making its way into bottle, an especially long time for a blend such as this, but it clearly needed it; there is a complex interplay between rich blackcurrant, cedar, cigar box and dried herbs, and a persistent tattoo of fine-grained tannins on the very long paplte. Cork.
Rating 96
To 2037Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2013
85/15%. The first thing you notice is the liveliness of it; the second is the easygoing complexity; the third is the long chains of tannin. Tobacco and earth run through boysenberry and blackcurrant; smoky oak plays a subtle role. Cork.
Rating 96
To 2030Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2012
2017 vintage was very late in each of Tapanappa’s 3 distinguished sites. The single outstanding feature of the 2017 vintage was that each of the phenological events of the vine’s growing season was delayed by 2 to 3 weeks compared to the average.
The wonderful feature of a delayed harvest is that the grapes undergo the heat sensitive final accumulation of aroma, flavour and colour in much cooler conditions.
A generous, full-bodied, powerful chardonnay with aromas of cashew, pear, creamy lees, and a fairly strong oak component. There is richness and amplitude in the mouth; a trace of grip adds authority to the finish. More complexity will build over time.
94 points
