A blend of Cabernet Sauvignon (84%) and Shiraz (16%), the fruit is dazzling, framed up by some exquisite oak treatment.

It’s fairly loaded up with cassis, plum, and beyond that to underlying cedary notes, hints of violet. Multi-faceted, the fruit

2009 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc Brian Croser, CEO and winemaker for Tapanappa, has been a much-respected friend of Winewise since our very early days. His great contribution to Australian wine via Petaluma and other avenues is part of …

The 60/40% blend was cold-soaked for four days prior to fermentation commencing, hand-plunged with a peak of 32?C, then macerated for seven days post fermentation; thereafter 20 months in French oak (30% new) before being bottled unfiltered. The colour is …

Bright green-yellow; a wine born of Brian Croser’s long experience with the Piccadilly Valley and chardonnay; white peach and melon fruit is interwoven with finely judged oak, the mlf handled expertly.
94 points…

Strong, clear and deep colour; a thoroughly serious pinot noir, with a fragrant bouquet followed by a black cherry and plum palate with excellent texture and structure; tannins and oak are woven through the mid-palate and into the finish. Will …

The late Len Evans would doubtless have taken great delight in pointing out the quality of this 70/30% blend, used in the first Petaluma Coonawarra, but not thereafter. This has been made in the same way as the Merlot Cabernet …

Bright green-yellow; a wine born of Brian Croser’s long experience with the Piccadilly Valley and chardonnay; white peach and melon fruit is interwoven with finely judged oak, the mlf handled expertly.

94 points
Drink to 2017…

Made from 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc, this is an expressive, mouthcoating ‘Cheval Blanc’ blend of resonant subtlety and drinkability, grown on the limestones of Wrattonbully. The site is less wine-prone than Coonawarra – a factor in the wine’s …

The 2008 vintage was tagged by all as terrific, this one will achieve even higher acclaim. Dark chocolate, coffee and spiced plum infused across a great red.

Food: Peking duck
Rating: 96/100 …

My advice is to move fast to secure a bottle or three of this limited new fine wine release from South Aussie winemaker Brian Croser. A striking shiraz that will stand tall for years to come.

Food: Smoked duck
Rating: …

A rich, generous, complex red wine brimming with dark fruit, spice, some floral notes and full-flavoured tannins. Perfect to warm you up in the dark, cold depths of winter. Enjoy with hearty dishes.…

There are many reasons this wine could add something to your meal. Tapanappa is winemaker Brian Croser’s venture in which he aims to make very special wines by matching all the component parts exceptionally well – climate, soil, geology, varieties …

It’s testament to the underlying quality here, that the wine was both approachable now, yet also imparted a sense of where it may well be over its life.

Opens with a plummy mix, supported by an oak framework that provides …

he Whalebone Vineyard reds are always swathed in oak. Unashamedly so. They’re built for the long haul. Still, there’s a rare degree of refinement about them that sets them apart. The vineyard and the fruit is still clearly visible. It’s …

Apart from a short heat wave at the end of January, 2009 was a cooler vintage in Wrattonbully. The coolest since 2005. It’s made for an even better rendition of the Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc than the terrific …

Foggy Hill was planted in 2003.

The 2013 vintage just finished was a wonderful way to celebrate the 10th birthday of this unique and lonely vineyard. Dry and warm by virtue of warmer than average nights, the compete description of …

Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2010 Piccadilly Valley 

17 points 
Drink 2015-2022

“Smoky nose. […] Still quite youthful but you can see where it is headed. Pretty chewy for the moment but nice savour. Really succulent.”

Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot

2013 was a very warm and dry vintage.

2013 was also a wonderful vintage.

Despite near record warmth at all three of the Tapanappa terroirs, there were very few days above 35°C, no extended heat waves and it was night …

The 60%/40% blend was cold-soaked for four days prior to fermentation commencing, hand-plunged with a peak of 32°C, then macerated for seven days post fermentation; thereafter 20 months in French oak (30% new) before being bottled unfiltered. The colour is …

The following reviews are taken from an article written by Andrew Graham on a comparative tasting of Tapanappa’s Chardonnay’s amd Pinot Noir’s alongside Domaine Chanson’s Burgundy offerings.

Original article: http://www.ozwinereview.com/2013/04/chanson-tapanappa-quality-convergenc…

Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2010

Top Burgundian vineyard dirt Sourced

John Fordham’s fancies

Tapanappa became legendary vigneron Brian Croser’s new home at Wrattonbully following the sale of his Petaluma empire. This is an outstanding example of Australia’s original signature red blend, dominated by 40-year-old cabernet sauvignon fruit with a powerful

This is the younger sibling of the Tiers Vineyard release. It’s grown on the same chardonnay vineyard, though the vines this was grown on were planted in 2001. i.e. much younger vines. This 2010 release has been in the market …

The 2008 Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc remains under cork but it’s a beautiful specimen: long and firm. The wine is a deep, blood red with an intriguing bouquet of plum cake, sweet aromatic spices and a touch of mint. …

Impressive from the get-go. Layers of dark fruits, earth, ferrous savouriness, eucalyp and sage. A formidable wall of fruit is tempered by ropes of dusty tannins, but all set in a medium bodied, cedary frame. Hold for a spell too.…

Another day, another dogma challenging wine. Here though, the question is not about climate challenging varieties (as it was with yesterday’s Domaine A Cabernet), but about regionally challenging blends, featuring two grapes that have been traditionally delegated to mere second

Some will say that it could do without all the oak. And it probably could. Then again, that would make it a completely different wine…

Textured and toasty, powerful and structured. Grapefruit, melon and yellow peach with a wicked mineral

A seamless, satiny ride through the palate with a peppery, leafy herb inflection sitting high. Elegant feel with savoury tannin profile, muted oak and dry stalkiness chiming in. Complexity and finesse. Great expression fo Foggy Hill in 2010

94 points

Ripeness, earth spice and oak punch segue to an impossibly medium bodied, elegant palate – has complexity of bay leaf, bergamot tannins and a layered savouriness, but drinkability is the import. Impressive for architecture

95/100

More than a few people expressed doubts when Brian Croser released his first Pinot Noir from the Foggy Hill Vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula. South Australian Pinot isn’t exactly a common commodity and apart from a few efforts in the

The following seminar was presented in London as part of a look at Chilean Cabernet.

Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon

This Global Exploration is a celebration of the great quality and diversity of the noble Cabernet Sauvignon.

It is also recognition of …

Wrattonbully appears to have a genuine future as a Merlot producing region. The addition of 40% Cabernet Franc adds a good deal of interest as well. The Whalebone Vineyard was planted in 1974 and it’s producing some exciting wines already.

Brian Croser has captured distinctive vineyard and vintage characters while embracing an almost atypically tight and light structure. Displays elegance and style with a slickness you only get from the very finest. Perfume notes emerge, with the new French oak

Brian Croser’s Tapanappa venture has been of interest to me since its inception in 2002 and tasting this makes me very pleased that I have some of the 2004 tucked away in the cellar. 70% Cabernet, 30% Shiraz and a

Long, tightly focused and already very complex, with a waxy, creamy bouquet of grapefruit, melon and fresh vanilla oak backed by nuances of ginger and butterscotch. Underpinned by waxy and nutty complexity, its evenly ripened, juicy presence of melon and

An exceptional wine likely to build along classical lines. Its complex, smoky bouquet of red rose petals, dark cherries and toasty vanilla oak reveals nuances of beetroot, rhubarb and five spice plus a whiff of dusty stalkiness. Long and elegant, …

Nothing new under the Whalebone sun, we are probably 2 weeks away from the start of veraison, and those cabernet bunches just seem to be perfectly right, small berries, open bunches. The “vendange verte” (green harvest) in the Merlot was …

The resilience of the Whalebone Vineyard after 3 days of high 30s temperature is amazing. The Cabernet Sauvignon will be low yielding and vines look well balance with good bunch exposure. Some bunch thinning is required in the Merlot which …

Light, but still bright primary colour; an elegant and polished wine, harmony its key word; fruit, oak (30% new), tannins and acidity have been precisely judged; the palate is only light- to medium-bodied, yet has great length and persistence to …

This high-altitude Fleurieu Peninsula wine is both exquisitely balanced and very Burgundian. It’s a medium-bodied wine, concentrated, but with everything exquisitely in place. Matured in French oak barriques, it has dark cherry, brambly and savoury notes on the palate and …

Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon are all through flowering now, looking great, long rachis, good fruit set. Temperature remained very cool in Wrattonbully as compared with long term average.  The vineyard is now on the long road to véraison …

Whalebone Vineyard

Visit of the Whalebone Vineyard on Thursday with Alex, our brand manager at Mentzendorff (UK distributor). Great photo of the Cabernet Franc – full bloom.

The Cabernet Sauvignon has not started flowering yet. All the vineyard was shoot …

You don’t see many Australian red blends with Merlot as the dominant grape in the blend that cost this much, but it takes the chutzpah of a Brian Croser to make a wine like this.  It’s from Wrattonbully which is …

This is a forthright and concentrated style of chardonnay, with plenty of sweet oak layered into the mix of yellow stone fruit aromas, some creamy nougat complexity too. The palate delivers restarined fruit that has been lavished with rich, sweet,

And the evolution of this wine continues. Sealed now under screwcap, it has a pale, lilting red-purple colour in the glass and smells instantly of bright, fresh pinot noir, with cherry and strawberry fruits framed up by toasty, cedary oak; …

The Whalebone Vineyard – great name – in the Wrattonbully region includes 0.8 hectares of cabernet franc and 1 hectare of merlot. These vines were planted in 1974. “After a 30 year struggle the vines have penetrated the deeper limestone …

The traditional Australian red blend, beautifully executed. 70 percent cabernet sauvignon, 30 percent shiraz. All French oak.

Has a bit of a swagger to it, this wine. It’s rich, chocolatey, grainy and substantial. Flavours are mostly in the blackberry/plum area …

Grand red with a mint/eucalyptus background – often typical of the Wrattonbully region – pure forest fruits and beautifully managed, cedar, leather, oak-derived layers adding mid-range richness.…

The Tiers vineyard shoots have grown fast in the last week, and we think pre-flowering heavy rains on Monday night will be very beneficial. It is already time for wire lifting. Our resident Koala keeps an eye on things.

…

Long drive to Wrattonbully to see perfectly sound Cabernet, Merlot and Cabernet Franc vines.  Very uniform growth across each variety. Time to clear the crown of undesired shoot growth.

…

While not specifically Tapanappa news, it is nonethless very pleasing to see Brian’s lifelong commitment to Riesling honored by the Canberra International Riesling Challenge, awarding him the 2012 Wolf Blass Award for his contribution to the development and promotion of …

Earlier in the week, I hurriedly tasted the current releases of Tapanappa’s three single vineyard wines. All are worthy and exciting but I was especially drawn to this one. I have been looking forward to spending a bit more quality

A very fine, taught wine that needs coaxing but, like a good Cote de Beaune, builds characters the longer it’s in the glass. Profound, subtly powerful, with a haunting perfume of flowers, spices and citrus fruit.
97 / 100
Food:

The latest Tapanappa pinot noir release from winemaking veteran Brian Croser’s Foggy Hill Vineyard – a cool site at 350 metres above sea level on the Fleurieu Peninsula – is both exquisitely balanced and scarily Burgundian. It’s a medium-bodied wine, …

Medium red-purple; an elegant, complex wine bringing spice, mint and quality oak aromas and flavours into line with the ripe mulberry/plum fruit of the medium-bodied palate, the tannins soft and balanced.

Rating: 94 points / 5 goblets

Drink by: 2024

The Tiers Vineyard – owned by Ann Croser – is 31 years old and sits at 450 metres above sea level. Its highly prized crop of chardonnay is divided between Tapanappa and Petaluma. Tapanappa takes its portion of the crop

DEEP IN CHARACTER

Tapanappa 2010 Foggy Hill Pinot Noir

A gorgeous wine from close to the Southern Ocean, Brian Croser’s Fleurieu vineyard named for its summer and autumn fogs. The 2010 growing season was a warm year, so this wine …

Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2010

Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Fleurieu Peninsula Pinot Noir 2010

In 2001 Lion Nathan acquired Petaluma (founded in 1976 by Brian Croser). But Croser retained control of the Tiers vineyard, a key source of

Brian Croser is the man behind the iconic Australian winery Petaluma – now part of the Lion Nathan Group. He moved on to create Tapanappa with the Bizot Family of Bollinger fame and the Cazes family from Chateau Lynch-Bages. Croser …

Two blogs in a day! 

Not quite, as the previous one had been under preparation for some time.

Having hailed the 2012 vintage in the great tradition of Murray Tyrrell (renowned for announcing the vintage of the century every year), …

It’s been along time between posts.

The last post was “The Big Stretch”, the paper I wrote on Chile for a seminar on South American wines in London in January.

Since then the 2012 vintage has ripened beautifully, was carefully …

The bouquet offers seductive red fruit, cardamon and a savoury herbaceous, bramble note; the palate is finely laced with red fruits, with a surprising and refreshing level of fine grained tannins; soft on entry and firm to conclude, will benefit …

Mid garnet; a subtle reflection of red fruits, sage, licorice and leather; the medium bodied palate is finely textured, with ample fine-grained tannins complementing the subtle red fruit and earthy tones of the finish; a long, fine and elegant example.…

A tightly wound, restrained and unevolved bouquet of pear, grapefruit, spring florals and very fine toasty oak; the palate is taut, with the vibrant acidity providing line to the latent power of the fruit within; long, refreshing, fine and resoundingly

We are exceptionally pleased to see our 2010 Foggy Hill Pinot Noir recognised by Matthew Jukes in his latest annual top 100 wines.

This is wonderful recognition of this very special Pinot Noir terroir that continues to prove itself a …

With a highly aromatic and complex aroma akin to a ‘warm vintage’ Volnay, this is an aromatically hedonistic, Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot with a cunning, middle-weight palate. The classic, garnet Pinot hue is spot on in this wine and it …

This is as classy as you would expect from a Brian Croser, Bollinger and Cazes family joint project. Barrel-fermented and oak-aged for 10 months, it is elegantly structured, tropical yet restrained, generous yet intense.…

The following paper was recently given by Brian at the inaugural South American Wine Workshop in London.

“THE BIG STRETCH”

THE EMERGING CHILEAN FINE WINE INDUSTRY

INTRODUCTION

I am not an expert on the Chilean wine industry and even less …

The following article is taken from Jancis Robinson’s website: http://www.jancisrobinson.com/articles/a201202131.html

US shortfall may solve OZ surplus by Jancis Robinson, 13 Feb 2012

La Niña and the succession of cool, rainy summers it has inflicted on much of south-east Australia may

A great mention from the great Hugh Johnson about out 2009 Foggy Hill Pinot Noir in the latest edition of World of Fine Wine. Hugh in his regular coups de coeur section writes:

So have any new wines given me

On Monday night (the 21st) in the multi-faceted Leonard French Grand Hall of the National Gallery of Victoria we were treated to a tasting of international Pinot Noirs reflecting and refracting the spectrum of hues, aromas, flavours and palate architecture …

Whalebone Vineyard, named for a fossilied whale skeleton in the limestone beneath it, was planted by John Greenshields in 1974 and bought by Tapanappa, a joint venture led by Brian Croser; in 2002. This is the first release of  a …

From eight-year-old vines at Parawa, within cooee of the Southern Ocean, Brian Croser has steered what he calls a “most fastidious variety” from this warmish vintage into a fruit-driven style though never leaving its silky textural pleasures. Superbly balanced with …

Petaluma founder Brian Croser made this world-class red from a vineyard on Coonawarra’s edge. Cabernet franc is unfashionable yet plays a vital role in many great Bordeaux reds. Croser launched this next to a $1400 Bordeaux and is compared well.…

Remarkably the sun came out in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and has prevailed over the occasional misty rain drift from the Pacific for the past 16 days.

The coolest and latest vintage of the Oregon wine industry’s short history received the …

This happened a while ago but we forgot to put it upon the site (my bad, S).

Our 2009 Foggy Hill Pinot Noir was rated equal top Australian Pinot, in the Five Nations Wine Challenge, just being notched out …

Croser’s quest to make great pinot continues apace with this dark cherry-scented style, some bergamot and Earl Grey tea, sweet earthy depth, lighter perfume and bright red fruits. The palate is supple and smooth, with a composed bed of open-weave …

Bright-gold in the glass, this has an instant air of complexity about it, with creamy lees-derived aromas, some nougat, honeysuckle and plenty of ripe white-peach fruit below; the oak’s toasty and fresh. In the mouth it’s a powerful wine, with …

Seeing Red

Tapanappa 2010 Pinot Noir

Fish with a red wine – thats going to set some tongues wagging. But look into this recipe and it’s all about the flavouring ingredients, the fennel, saffron, and especially the tomatoes, all wrapped …

Here we are again in Oregon where vintage used to be in September.

Today is the 13^th of October, a cool foggy damp day in downtown Dayton and at least two weeks from harvest.

Dayton is a small town …