Brian's Musings

Tapanappa News & Articles

A Fighter For Fine Wine

Author: Margaret Rand
Source: The World of Fine Wine
Date: Jun 2020

There have been few more influential figures in the modern history of Australian wine than Brian Croser.

“I always had the conviction that Australia’s national geographical attributes, climate and soils, its very stable temperate climate on the edge of the Great Southern Ocean, gives a climate the equivalent of 40-45 degrees North. We should be a major supplier of fine wine to the globe.

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Looking back at Australian Chardonnay

Author: Jancis Robinson
Source: Jancis Robinson
Date: May 2020

I think it was Xavier Bizot who had the idea of celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the planting of the Tiers vineyard in the Adelaide Hills in 1979.

He is the son-in-law of Brian Croser, who initially planted the vines for his nascent Petaluma wine operation. Much wine has flowed under the bridge since then,

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2020 Vintage Report – Unforgettable

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2020

Note this report was also published at https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/south-australia-2020-unforgettable

Last time I wrote about the emerging 2020 vintage I was branded ‘a denier’, ‘a dinosaur’ and ‘an angry old white man with a tin ear’, among other compliments. Let me begin this final version with a disclaimer: A hotter and drier future cannot be denied or avoided and each of us can and should do our utmost to mitigate that.

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THE TIERS VINEYARD TURNS 40. HERE IS A WHOLE LOTTA CHARDONNAY TO CELEBRATE

Author: Andrew Graham
Source: Oz Wine Review
Date: Mar 2020

I’m in cleanup mode at the moment, sifting through the (physical) sample pile and my (digital) notes to tidy things up Kondo-style.

While it’s cathartic to delete some half-baked stories written late at night, I’ve discovered some unpublished gems too – just like this set of notes from the Tapanappa Tiers vineyard 40th birthday event held last year in the Adelaide Hills.

 » Read more about: THE TIERS VINEYARD TURNS 40. HERE IS A WHOLE LOTTA CHARDONNAY TO CELEBRATE  »

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Croser Celebrates

Author:
Source: Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine
Date: Mar 2020

Huon Hooke – Cheers to Tiers

Author: Huon Hooke
Source: Australian Gourmet Traveller Wine
Date: Mar 2020

‘Be-Calmed’ – Brian Croser iterates his thoughts on the 2020 Australian Vintage

Author: Brian Croser
Source: WBM
Date: Feb 2020

Leading winemaker Brian Croser AO shared his thoughts on smoke taint and the 2020 vintage in an article on the ABC website last week. Several people on social media criticised Brian for some of the things he said in that story. He was even branded a ‘dinosaur’. Here Brian iterates his thoughts on #V20.

 » Read more about: ‘Be-Calmed’ – Brian Croser iterates his thoughts on the 2020 Australian Vintage  »

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2019 Vintage Report – Small, Dry and Moderate

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2019

The description of the 2019 harvest is worthy of a politician or two.

The most startling aspect of the 2019 vintage in the Piccadilly Valley and to a lesser extent Wrattonbully, is the very low yield. Foggy Hill on the Fleurieu Peninsula yielded to expectation.

The low yield in the Piccadilly Valley was mainly because of the cold,

 » Read more about: 2019 Vintage Report – Small, Dry and Moderate  »

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2015 Fleurieu Pinot delivers Gold… again

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: Jul 2018

The 2015 Fleurieu Peninsula Pinot Noir has once again picked up a gold at the Drinks Business, 2018 Global Pinot Noir Masters. Further raising questions over Brian’s decision to declassify this wine! In his summary of the competition Patrick Schmitt MW noted:

Once the wines surpassed the £20 mark, as one would expect,

 » Read more about: 2015 Fleurieu Pinot delivers Gold… again  »

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Book Review: Wine and Place

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Jancis Robinson
Date: Jul 2018

This book review by Brian first appeared on JancisRobinson.com here: https://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/wine-and-place-book-review

Wine and Place – A terroir reader
Tim Patterson and John Buechsenstein
University of California Press
ISBN 9780520277007
$39.95

This book is the story of my life.

For a book that starts out by declaiming that it is not written to be read in one session,

 » Read more about: Book Review: Wine and Place  »

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The Story of a Chardonnay Clone

Author:
Source:
Date: Jul 2018

4 August 2020 See this update. It transpires that Gingin, Mendoza and OF are in fact three different clones of Chardonnay, albeit from the same block in California.

6 November 2018 See also Chardonnay clones updated.

30 July 2018 

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A Small Boast

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2018

Being in the fine wine growing and making business is deeply personal.

I have spent 40 years choosing distinguished vineyard sites, planting them with the right variety, refining the viticulture and the winemaking and enduring the swings and roundabouts of the third party critical assessment of the wines. Like any parent I take offense when my wines (aka my alternative children) don’t achieve the points and accolades I think they deserve.

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2018 Vintage Report – Another hot one

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2018

I am over above average temperature vintages.

One of the great paradoxes of winemaking is that to make the best wines from our established suite of noble varieties, choose a cool region, look for the warmest site in the region and hope for vintages that are above average in temperature.

The best wines from cool regions are made in the vintages that are warmer and drier than average.

 » Read more about: 2018 Vintage Report – Another hot one  »

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In a Good Place

Author: Nick Ryan
Source: WBM
Date: Feb 2018

Brian Croser reflects on the pioneering days, politics, wine industry leadership and the next generation.

View the full article here (PDF 1Mb)

 » Read more about: In a Good Place  »

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2017 Vintage Report by Brian Croser

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: Jun 2017

A CONTRADICTORY VINTAGE

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,

 » Read more about: 2017 Vintage Report by Brian Croser  »

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2016 Vintage Report – An extraordinary Vintage

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2016

The final barriques of 2016 vintage wines have been filled awaiting the finish of malo-lactic fermentation. In our vineyards in the Piccadilly Valley, at Parawa, on the Fleurieu Peninsula and at Wrattonbully it has been an abundant vintage of full flavoured ripe fruit wines, the reds displaying bright, intense colours.

2016 vintage was dry,

 » Read more about: 2016 Vintage Report – An extraordinary Vintage  »

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Family Affair

Author: Des Houghton
Source: Courier Mail
Date: Oct 2015

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard at Wrattonbully, in South Australia, is less than an hour from the ocean and has more maritime influences than you can imagine.
The bones of a 37 million- year-old whale were found to be supporting the roof of an underground cave chock- full of ancient archaeological charms that have aroused scientists,

 » Read more about: Family Affair  »

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Making our drops hot – The Australian 5/08/2015

Author: Will Lyons
Source: The Australian
Date: Aug 2015

The following article featured in The Australian 5/08/2015

Brian Croser says the future of Australia’s fine wine lies in the country’s cool-climate areas

WILL LYONS

Can you name the world’s great fine-wine regions? This wine con- noisseurs’ parlour game usually ends up in a heated discussion of the merits of,

 » Read more about: Making our drops hot – The Australian 5/08/2015  »

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2015 Vintage Report

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: Jul 2015

2015 was a special vintage for me, the first back in the winery that I built as the Petaluma Winery now the Tapanappa Winery, since I resigned as Petaluma’s winemaker after the 2005 vintage. The first vintage in the fledgling winery was 1979 and it has just completed its 37th vintage in a wonderfully functional way.

 » Read more about: 2015 Vintage Report  »

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Brisbane Dinner with Brian

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: Jul 2015

Tapanappa in conjunction with The Wine Emporium and Lutèce Bistro are hosting a wine dinner in Brisbane on Tuesday 25th August. A great chance to see each of our single vineyard wines alongside French counterparts.

See attached flyer for more information, for reservations call Lutèce on 07 31611858 or email bookings@lutece.com.au

 » Read more about: Brisbane Dinner with Brian  »

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The Anatomy Of The 2014 Vintage

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: May 2014

Curious things happen in vineyards as the season unfolds and almost none more curious than in lead-up the 2014 vintage. The apparently ideal conditions of the winter leading into the 2014 vintage unexpectedly threw up a miserable quantity of grapes albeit of very good quality.

Tapanappa’s 3 terroirs, Tiers in the Piccadilly Valley,

 » Read more about: The Anatomy Of The 2014 Vintage  »

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The Noble House of Carmenet

Author: Brian Croser
Source: Tapanappa
Date: Jan 2014

This paper was presented by Brian at a conference in London, January 2014.

THE NOBLE HOUSE OF CARMENET.
INTRODUCTION

Carmenet is an old Medoc synonym for Cabernet Franc.

It is also the name given to the Bordeaux family of wine-grape varieties by Levadoux in 1948 in his classification of France’s ampelographical assemblage into eco-georoups,

 » Read more about: The Noble House of Carmenet  »

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The Wine Detective looks at Wrattonbully

Author: Sarah Ahmed
Source: The Wine Detective
Date: Jan 2014

As part of her Limestone Coast regional tour, Sarah Ahmed has produced a detailed article on the geology and associated wines of the Wrattonbully region, including a look at our unique Whalebone Vineyard. Read the full article here: http://www.thewinedetective.co.uk/blog/australia/the-limestone-coast-par…

As part of this she reviewed both our 2009 Whalbone wines as follows.

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On industry leadership (cont.)

Author: Brian Croser
Source: WBM Magazine
Date: Dec 2013

The following letter was published in WBM Magazine’s weekly newsletter on 29th, November 2013.

After a decade of being deliberately agnostic about the Australian wine community’s political processes, my frustration at the continuing bad news story that the Australian wine community hierarchy conspires for itself, boiled over in an essay I wrote,

 » Read more about: On industry leadership (cont.)  »

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