Educated at the University of Adelaide, where he was later Deputy Chancellor for eight years, and at the University of California at Davis, Brian was involved in establishing the Charles Sturt Wine Science degree in Wagga Wagga as well as many of the major Australian wine industry institutions through the 1970s and ‘80s.
Brian and Ann Croser began Petaluma in 1976 and set about exactingly matching varieties to regions and meticulously managing for 27 years the vines in Petaluma’s Distinguished Site vineyards in Clare, the Adelaide Hills and Coonawarra.
Considered one of Australia’s leading proponents of terroir-driven wines, he pioneered the development of the Adelaide Hills viticultural region, planting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir and establishing the Petaluma winery in the Piccadilly Valley from 1978. This was followed by Shiraz and Viognier at Mt Barker from the early 90s.
In the mid-1980s, the purchase and renovation of the historic Bridgewater Mill provided a home for ‘Croser’, the eponymous premium sparkling wine made from fruit from the Piccadilly Valley, first released in 1987.
During that period, he also established, with Rollin Soles, Argyle Winery in Oregon in 1985, then later the Tunkalilla Vineyard, a Riesling and Pinot Noir vineyard in the Eola Hills just north of Salem in Oregon.
He has been the President of the Winemakers Federation of Australia, a founding board member of Wine Australia, the Chairman of Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra (The National) and Perth wine shows and has received numerous awards for service to the Australian wine industry including the prestigious Maurice O’Shea award, an Honorary Doctorate from Charles Sturt University and a Doctor of the University of Adelaide in July of 2007.
In 2004, Brian was named ‘Man of the Year’ by Decanter magazine. He has also been made an Officer of the Order of Australia for his contribution to research and education and for service to the Australian wine industry.
Brian loves to write, informed by his passion for his profession and is often published in leading global wine publications.
Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2026
“Warm and very late” seems a contradictory description of a grape harvest, but that indeed describes the 2026 vintage from Tapanappa’s three distinguished site vineyards, a harvest that finished on the 30th of April. After the hottest, driest and earliest vintage in 2025, the 2026 harvest stands in stark contrast.
» Read more about: Vintage 2026 – A Vintage of Contradictions – Brian Croser »
Author:
Source:
Date: Mar 2026
Brian Croser has been in the Australian wine industry for over 50 years. He helped build it. Now he’s watching it struggle — and he’s got a lot to say about why. This is a big conversation. Brian sits down with Brendan Carter from Bottleshock to talk about what’s actually going wrong, what the industry refuses to confront,
» Read more about: The Australian Wine Industry Is in Trouble – Bottleshock »
Author:
Source: Wine Business Magazine
Date: Mar 2026
Highly decorated winemaker Brian Croser ponders the future of the Australian wine industry which he says is held back by a structure that is no longer fit for purpose.
Everyone knows the Australian wine industry is a basket case. We keep telling the world that is the diagnosis. Additionally, the industry projects forlorn hope of any recovery because of the apparent negative change in the global demand for wine.
» Read more about: Wine industry structure ‘no longer fit for purpose’ »
Author: Brian Croser
Source:
Date: May 2025
The word exceptionalism was invented to describe the USA as an economic entity, or at least to describe the way it used to be.
Now the word has morphed to apply to the whim of the weather gods for the 2025 vintage in South Australia.
I have always advocated that every vintage is different and after 56 of them in South Australia and many elsewhere,
Author: Luke Slattery
Source: GoodWeekend - Saturday Age
Date: Dec 2024
Grapes rotting on vines; billions of bottles’ worth of wine sitting in tank farms, wanted by no one. Australia’s inland bulk wine producers are in crisis, causing an image problem for the wider industry.
BRIAN CROSER claps a heavy hand on my shoulder and drags me in from the cold.
Author:
Source:
Date: May 2024
After 55 vintages in Australia, you might surmise I have seen it all. Hot years, cold years, wet years, drought years, big crops, small crops, no crop. In 1983, the “Ash Wednesday” fire year, the fire was followed by a tropical deluge. We harvested no grapes from Clare or Coonawarra. Piccadilly Valley was not yet in production.
Author:
Source: www.jancisrobinson.com
Date: Apr 2024
Brian Croser sends a first-hand report from Tapanappa in the Piccadilly Valley on a small but promising harvest. Above, Croser scrutinizes the Chardonnay grapes in the Tiers Vineyard.
We all know what comes in small packages, but can they be a little bigger than the 2024 vintage from our Tiers,
» Read more about: South Australia 2024 – a view from the Adelaide Hills »
Author:
Source: Wine Business Magazine
Date: Feb 2024
RESPECTED AUSTRALIAN WINEMAKERS BRIAN CROSER AND LOUISA ROSE SHARE THEIR VIEWS ON THE WORLD-RENOWNED AUSTRALIAN WINE RESEARCH INSTITUTE BEING BLED DRY BECAUSE OF EVER-DECREASING FUNDING.
The Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI) is 70 years old next year.
One of us has been admiring and utilising their work for more than 50 of those 70 years,
Author:
Source: WBM – Australia’s Wine Business Magazine
Date: Jan 2024
by Brian Croser
The Australian wine industry has squandered three decades being confused about the differences between premium and non-premium wine and where the opportunities really lie. Brian Croser reports.
Imagine the world without America and China. I don’t mean their geographic absence, rather imagine after the Australian wine industry’s 1990s growth spurt,
Author: Brian Croser
Source: WBM
Date: May 2023
On 11 April we were yet to begin the harvest for all but a young block of Foggy Hill Pinot Noir that was harvested on 5 April.
In an average year we would have harvested all three of our vineyards by April 11.
After 54 diverse vintages, none the same as any other,
Author: Brian Croser
Source: Jancis Robinson
Date: Apr 2023
Brian Croser of Tapanappa provides the sequel to his report on the nerve-wracking 2023 harvest. Above, the vines at Tapanappa are finally free of the netting that kept the berries safe from the birds.
It is 18 April, a gloriously typical autumn day in the Adelaide Hills.
Author: Brian Croser
Source: Jancis Robinson
Date: Apr 2023
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