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Interesting wine this – it tastes distinctly different to most Australian Pinot.

There’s plenty of sweet spicy oak on opening (it subsides) and then come red fruits with some dark cherry. Medium bodied, fresh and firm with particularly attractive kitten …

Perfectly ripened fruit highlights the deficiencies of the majority of Australian Merlots; bright small red berry fruits, a faint nuance of snow pea and fine, persistent, ripe tannins.…

Bright pale green-straw; as expected, an immaculately proportioned and balanced wine with great drive and impeccable line; all the vineyard and winemaker inputs are seamlessly welded, making flavour descriptors unnecessary.…

South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula gives its name to a wine zone embracing the warm McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek regions ? source of generous ripe wines. But the peninsula juts further south, swinging westward into the Great Southern Ocean, producing …

In 1978 Brian Croser released Petaluma Chardonnay 1977, a pioneering oak-fermented, oak-matured wine of striking quality. It came from warm Cowra and was the forerunner of later Petaluma vintages sourced from Croser’s vineyards in South Australia’s cool Piccadilly Valley. Over …

Tiers before bedtime? Not quite but it was an emotional experience nonetheless.

There’s some smoothness of the cremé caramel and almond paste persuasion but here’s a wine that’s characterised by its intense crunchy acid and strong minerality. There’s a white …

Brian Croser, partnered by the Cazes family of Lynch-Bages , and Champagne Bollinger, is behind this pure, precise wine, the star of my Chardonnay tasting at May’s Decanter New World Fine Wine Encounter.…

Brian Croser rose to prominence in the mid-1970s when he left his position as chief winemaker with Hardys to begin the celebrated wine science course at Riverina College in New South Wales. At the same time he also founded an …

The two new red releases from the Whalebone Vineyard are of definite 100 Best standard. We have chosen to lead with the Merlot ahead of the Cabernet / Shiraz blend, it being the much more challenging wine to make. Stunningly …

Nothing soft and slurpable here ? this is a serious merlot?.it’s overall quality is superb. It’s ripped with tannin, deep, plum-shot flavour, cedary oak and more general earthen, smoky notes. Forget the descriptors: it’s grippy and bold and quite beautiful.…

Gravel, blackcurrant, dried herbs and toasty, tarry flavours characterise it, and it has good length. The oak has settled beautifully into the wine, and it sure is balanced?…

Very youthful and gangly, but an excellent chardonnay in the waiting. It’s spicy and floral, with a waxy presence of melon and grapefruit, apple and pear, with undertones of stonefruit, fig and creamy vanilla oak. Long and chalky, it’s austere …

A single vineyard wine of great aspiration?its structure and polish are A-class. Fine, elegant, curranty fruit flavours, velvety tannins, hay-like, sawdusty French oak and a sweet jubey finish. They don?t come much classier.…

A slick, modern and decidedly cedary oak enhanced style, heading into classic Bordeaux inspired territory, some plums and mulberry too. Lovely sweet tannins carrying fruit in three dimensions, more of the same ripe fruits here; length and class.…

? a polished technique and innate fruit potential. Oak is applied with Bordeaux like charm, across cassis and dark cherry fruits, mint and chocolate. Handsomely integrated, its well crafted tannins fan out evenly across the palate, delivering plenty of berry …

Plenty of vinous cherry fruit aroma and some briary forest characters here, earthy, the oak is spicy and sits up in the mix, strong anise, some clove too. Fine gentle tannins and ripe soft fruits, liquorice and flighty cherry fruit …

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A pricey but very impressive South Australian offering from Brian Croser of Petaluma fame. High quality fruit strikes you from the first mouthful-cranberries, plums and blackcurrants ? and it has good structure and fine tannins.…

Fragrant, succulent, powerful and complex.…

The first release from the experimental Foggy Hill vineyard. Very varietal and proudly unfiltered, it’s made from grapes from a vineyard that is at the highest point of the Fleurieu Peninsula. It’s idiosyncratic and superb.

Drink with barbecued duck.…

Two of the country’s finest chardonnays come from this Adelaide Hills vineyard – the outstanding 2004 Petaluma Tiers and this sublime white. It’s fine, subtle yet complex with nutmeggy oak and purity of fruit. Smoothly viscous and tight, finishing with …

From the winemaker’s family vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley of the Adelaide Hills, this is indisputably one of Australia’s finest chardonnays. Barrel-fermented and lees-stirred, it has wonderful varietal character with superb fruit assisted by subtle oak.

Drink with free-range roast …

Sometimes, you feel spoilt being asked to review wines. Drinking this chardonnay is one such occasion. Made by Brian Croser, it comes from his family’s vineyard in the Adelaide Hills. every chardonnay technique has been applied in the making, yet …

Finely assembled by Brian Croser, this is an expressive Merlot with loads of rich black fruits, savoury spice and hints of fruit cake. The palate is tight and full bodied, supported by dark chocolate oak and fine long tannins.…

If you’ve got a special occasion coming up you’d want a wine like this. If you haven’t, buy it anyway and put it in the cellar as the legendary Brian Croser is responsible.

This is a grand wine with its …

I’d serve a discreet, flavour driven pinot with the roast turkey – and this handsome wine from Foggy Hill vineyard on Brian Croser’s southern Fleurieu property is startling for the depth of flavour from only five-year-old vines. The Tapanappa winery …

How many great Australian merlots are there? Not many, but this wine points the way. From one of the first dedicated merlot vineyards in Australia, planted in 1974 at Wrattonbully on South Australia’s Limestone Coast, it opens with a subtle, …

Is this Australia’s Merlot of the Year?… Our vote this year went unanimously to this desparately distinguished Merlot. The detail and build quality of this wine require serious inspection. Tight, but expressive, this is a wine that should not be …

There are only a handful of wines in Australia where just one word will do to convey the seriousness and romance of the contents of the bottle?When Brian Croser planted the Tiers vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley in the Adelaide …

The quality of black currant, cherry and plum fruit showcased in this wine makes it one of the best releases under this label to date. Vanillin oak supports its rich fruit and fine supple tannins.…

This wine is improving incrementally even dure the two months since its release. Vanilla pod, almond meal, star anise and fresh orange rind converge in incredible concentration and persistence. It’s very Burgundian in shape, with ultra-fine, minerally acidity and sensational …

Former Petaluma chief winemaker Brian Croser has linked with the family that owns Bollinger Champagnes, and the Cazes family of Bordeaux, to produce site-specific Tapanappa wines of the highest quality. They come from the Whalebone vineyard in Wrattonbully, Croser’s family …

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Staying true to form, the Franco-Aussie partnership started by Australian pioneer, Brian Croser, has produced a wine with great potential. It had the panel salivation; veal, grilled beef with truffles and bresaola were a few of the suggestions.

‘With an …

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Xavier Bizot has become general manager of Tapanappa Wines, the joint venture between the Croser family of Australia, the Bollinger family of Champagne and the Cazes family of Chateau Lynch-Bages. Bizot, a member of the Bollinger family, is also married …

Made by Brian Croser, the Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay comes from his family’s vineyard in the Adelaide Hills. Every chardonnay technique has been applied in the making, yet the power of the fruit remains. It is focused and pure, with an …

This French-Australian collaboration has turned out a soft, easy-to-drink Merlot with notable complexity. Cassis and black cherry fruit is backed with shadings of cedar and vanilla and eased along by a creamy texture and supple tannins. Without any track record, …

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard was a real winner. With intense colours, the 2004 merlot shows aromas of ripe plum with the smoky eucalypt and anise edge. The

flavour offers rich, ripe fruit without being sweet, with firm tannins for a savoury …

Bright, lemon-green; lovely line and focused fruit with complex cashews and fine citrus fruits on the long, generous finish; great texture and very supple.…

Finely constructed, with bright fruits supported by classy oak; full bodied with ample levels of black fruits and superfine tannins, yielding a supple and surprisingly approachable young wine. May surprise with its longevity.…

Bright pale green-strawl as expected, an immaculately proportioned and balanced wine with great drive and impeccable line; all the vineyard and winemaker inputs are seamlessly welded, making flavour descriptors unnecessary.…

With Croser, Lynches-Bages and Bollinger interests behind this wine, it is no suprise that it has some serious intent. Whiffs of currants, mulberries and oak are appealing but the structure is really impressive.…

…Brian Croser’s Tappanappa, Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2007 Adelaide Hills was a tense, introvert and lime-scented wine…

Inquiring subsequently about how exactly the Tappanappa wine had been made, I found that the yeast had been a single strain isolated from a …

Brian Croser (ex-Petaluma), among Australia’s most accomplished winemakers, and Bordeaux Legend Jean-Michel Cazes established this Wrattonbully (SA) winery in 2003. Densley coloured with a dusty/earthy nose, this has a stylish, restrained and elegant palate.…

The Tapanappa colaboration brings together local legend Brian Croser and French wine identities Jean-Michel Cazes and Arnould d’Hautefeuille. The result is high-quality wines such as this smoothly complex Adelaide Hills chardonnay. Stone fruit, grapefruit, mealy notes and nutty oak combine …

Brian Croser has made a beautiful Adelaide Hills chardonnay, delicate and understated but with great flavour complexity and refined texture. Bright and clean with grapefruit, nutty and smoky nuances, properly dry and focused.…

Brian Croser’s first wine from a vineyard planted in 2003 on a cold, foggy 350-metre peak of the Fleurieu Peninsula. This is promising pinot from one of Australia’s most significant wine figures. But Brian, could we please have another few …

Croser’s wine, from the Tiers Vineyard (planted 1979) is an altogether more subtle wine ? luxurious but with finesse and a seamless integration of the fruit and barrel ferment and maturation elements. It just needs time in bottle.…

2007 Tapanappa Pinot Noir, Fleurieu Peninsula

Nearly all you need to know about this wine is printed on the back and front labels of the bottle; for example, the fruit hails from the Foggy Hill vineyard situated at Parawa, the …

Dean Taylor: CEO, Wine-Ark

ONE DOZEN OF EACH:

Tapanappa Foggy Hill Pinot Noir, Fleurieu Peninsula

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz, Wrattonbully…

A superb chardonnay by maestro Brian Croser. It’s about understated complexity; fruit, oak, malolactic and lees characters are in harmony, with concentration and finesse. All it needs is time; if it evolves like the ’05 it will be great.…

The first vintage from Brian Croser’s pioneering, close-planted pinot noir vineyard on the Fleurieu’s southern tip is a stunner: elegant cherry and undergrowth flavours, and fine, powdery tannins. Ageworth, too.

Drink with quail.…

Certain politicians like to use the word “un-Australian” in a derogatory sense. I’ll use it here in a very positive way. May Australian chardonnays are driven by fruit at the expense of complexity. Relatively few combine those two key aspects …

The vineyard from which this wine comes was planted in 1974, and until recently was known as Koppamurra. I think it has already proven to be one of Australia’s great sites, and this wine reinforces my view. There are many …

The fruit component of this wine is probably as good as it gets for merlot in Australia at the moment. There’s a depth and complexity that goes way beyond the common plum and spice descriptors. There it is, merlot in …

That’s right – a pinot from Fleurieu. Mind you, the vineyard sits at 350 metres above sea level and cops a lot of fog. Given the head start that the cool Victorian regions, Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills have with …

I must admit, I was sceptical. A $45 pinot noir from the Fleurieu Peninsula – it sounds absurd. OK, so industry leader Brian Croser is behind it and he’s unlikely to engage in folly. But all things considered – well, …

If you need a reason to try Brian Croser’s pinot noirs, big name partners Bollinger and Cazes might be a good place to start.

Brian Croser recently breezed through town and for wine nerds like me it’s a little like …

Brian Croser is as close to a living legend as you will find in the Australian wine industry. All are thoroughly deserved

He has been awarded an AO, the Maurice O’Shea Award and in 2004 was named Decanter’s Man of …

The texture and harmony set this apart, despite a vegetal edge. Supple, almost sumptuous, this starts with more herb and red pepper notes than ripe cherry flavours, but it balances nicely as the finish rolls on. Drink now through 2012. …

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The 2005 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot has scored a spot in Matthew Jukes coveted top 100 wines of 2008.

Commenting on the 2008 selection, Matthew Jukes said, ?Quentin and I always start off this process with a blank piece of …

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93 Points – #1 Rated Wine

The top rated wine in the report, the 2006 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay from Tapanappa comes from Adelaide Hills, the Piccadilly Valley. The Tiers vineyard site was planted by Brian Croser back in 1978 when …

Brian Croser’s efforts with Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay have finally paid off in a big way. This is a plump, amply textured wine that doesn?t lack for elegance, marrying scents and flavors of toasted grain with white peaches and hazelnuts. Long …

IT was pure coincidence that the day before I left Australia for my usual month in Burgundy three missives arrived, two being emails, the third a bottle of pinot noir.

The first email was an offer by Sydney’s Ultimo Wine …

This continues the strong impression made by the 2004 version of this. This is reserved but big, chocked with dusty, curranty, cedary fruit flavour and then sweet and jubey through the finish. I tasted this six months ago and it …

Unashamedly fusing Australian fruit and a Bordelaise approach, this has precise distinctive fruit aromas, swanky oak influence, some mint and milk chocolate. The dominant cabernet sauvignon has integrated completely with its minority partners, shiraz and cabernet franc; this has an …

In 2006 and 2007 I reported on my first tastings of the wines of Tapanappa, the premium Australian label launched in 2002 by Brian Croser, one of the great names of Australian winemaking.

Croser found fame as owner and winemaker …

Notably sweet, smooth texture. Just the merest hint of coffee and spice (perhaps because of the Vosges oak used? ? new and old). Good acidity but texture is really is its strong suit, from vines planted in 1979. Some creamy …

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