Tapanappa Tiers 1.5M Vineyard 2025 Chardonnay

In 2003, the Croser family removed 1.3 hectares of the original Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, planted in 1979 in the Piccadilly Valley as the first Adelaide Hills vineyard. The area was replanted with the French Bernard clones 76 and 95 on rootstocks on very close 1.5 metre row spacing, with the fruiting wire at only 0.5 metres above the ground. This unique vineyard section produces earlier-ripening, fuller-flavoured Chardonnay than the 1981 old-vine Chardonnay on own roots across the centre road in The Tiers Vineyard. So unique is this small area of Chardonnay that we made the decision to bottle it separately from the 2015 vintage onwards. The 2025 vintage in the Piccadilly Valley was the warmest, driest and earliest vintage on record. The growing season accumulated 1620°C days versus the average of 1150°C days, more than the other two outlier warm vintages, 2016 and 2018.

Unlike 2016 and 2018, elevated night temperatures contributed significantly to the high 2025 heat summation, and there were no heat waves. The 2025 Chardonnay crop was about average in the Tiers 1.5M Vineyard at 7 tonnes/hectare, promoted by a warm and dry flowering in mid-October. The Chardonnay grapes on the 22-year-old vines of our Tiers 1.5M Vineyard ripened in the dry and sunny conditions of early Autumn. The Tiers 1.5M Vineyard yielded up its precious crop on the 6^th of March, three to four weeks ahead of average and the earliest ever.