Recognition

Page: Recognition 2026

Latest Reviews

“A resonating finish” – 97 points | Andrew Caillard MW | The Vintage Journal

22 March 2022

Pale colour. Intense fresh grapefruit, lime, tonic water aromas with vanilla nougat notes. Fresh and creamy textured with grapefruit, lime, bitter lemon, stone fruit flavours, fine loose knit chalky, hint of al dente textures, lovely mid palate viscosity and bell-clear acidity. A resonating finish, highlighting pure fruits and persistent mineral length. Drinking well now, but best to keep for a while to allow the elements to fold.

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Perfectly pitched | 97 points | Angus Hughson – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2021

22 March 2022

There is self-assured confidence to this vintage of Tiers. It’s not all bells and whistles right now, with greater restraint than the 1.5M, more Puligny than Meursault. But what it is already showing is outstanding complexity with melon, citrus, florals sitting well matched to beautifully integrated oak, plus a touch of praline in the mix.

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A delicious wine | 93 points | The Real Review – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2021

22 March 2022

Bright, light to mid-yellow colour leads into a complex and alluring bouquet of smoky barrel ferment and tropical fruits, traces of pineapple and melon conserve, the palate refined and lingering, taut and persistent, finishing with a slight grip. It neatly combines refinement with accessibility. A delicious wine, already drinking well.

93 points

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“Fine slinky textures” 98 points | Andrew Caillard MW | The Vintage Journal

22 March 2022

Pale colour. Beautiful grapefruit, apricot, cashew nut, roasted almond with underlying vanilla oak notes. Generous and supple with lovely apricot, white peach, grapefruit, grilled nut flavours, fine slinky textures, creamy mid-palate complexity, linear fresh acidity and integrated vanilla, hint crème brulée notes. Finishes chalky and supple with superb mineral length.

98 points

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“Outstanding value for money” 96 points | Angus Hughson | Wine Pilot

22 March 2022

A big step up here from the Piccadilly label, with fruit off a portion of the Tiers vineyard replanted in 2003 with Burgundian clones at higher density than the original plots. Very pale in colour and embryonic, this is still very much in its shell although already displays a strong Burgundian look and feel with a Meursault-like combination of power and poise.

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“It drives with power and focus to a very long finish” 96 points | Stuart Knox| The Real Review

22 March 2022

Pale lemon-yellow hue. Lemon curd, struck-flint and smoky-oak undertones. The palate fills with intense lemon blossoms and stone fruits, whilst savoury, smoky and stony minerality fill all the nooks and crannies of the mouth. Still incredibly tightly wound, it drives with power and focus to a very long finish. A wine of seriousness that will bring pleasure and contemplation for years to come

96 points

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“Superb crunch and energy” 95+ points | Gary Walsh | The Wine Front

22 March 2022

Could be a good choice for people who are vertically challenged?

So flinty and tight, but has generosity of flavour with white peach, brioche, cashew and cedar, and a cool fennel perfume. Fine-boned, chalky texture, cool grapefruit acidity mixing it up with spiced pear. A little struck match complexity in the mix, superb crunch and energy on a long bright spiced grapefruit finish.

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“Generosity of fruit combined with juicy acidity” 93 points | Angus Hughson | Wine Pilot

22 March 2022

Brian Croser is very happy with the 2021 Adelaide Hills vintage, and so he should be as all the wines show an excellent mix of classic Chardonnay generosity of fruit combined with juicy acidity. This regional Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay is a little riper than the Tiers and 1.5m showing an attractive array of melon and citrus fruits with nutty oak adding interest.

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“Depth, length and interest” 92 points | Stuart Robinson | The Vinsomniac

22 March 2022

Ripe peach with a throw of toasted oak in the frame. Toast latterly morphs to a spice, grilled hazelnut, a peppery top note.A little creamy texture whips across the palate, oak spice backing that up with an expansive move through the finish. A phenolic touch adds further dimension to the wine’s conclusion. Depth, length and interest.

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“Showing perfectly ripe fruit and superb precision” 96 points | Andrew Caillard MW | Vintage Journal

22 March 2022

Pale colour. Attractive white peach, apricot, nectarine, grapefruit aromas with tonic water notes. Creamy textured and buoyant with abundant stonefruit, grapefruit flavours, fine slinky/ al dente textures, underlying nougat, hint aniseed notes and fresh long acidity. A very expressive chardonnay showing perfectly ripe fruit and superb precision. An earlier drinking style but should keep for a while.

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“Just a whole lot of admirably contained flavour” 93 Points | Andrew Graham | Australian Wine Review

22 March 2022

Besides the obvious wine quality, what I always like about the new vintage release of the latest Tapanappa wines is the commentary from Brian Croser. Come for the Chardonnay, stay for the weather reports (just check out the proper detail here. Please wine producers, give us this much info).

Brian is pretty excited about the 2021 whites too (he calls the vintage “near perfect”),

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“Great drive and it lingers very long” 93 points | Stuart Knox | The Real Review

22 March 2022

Light straw-yellow hue. White peach, broken slate and smoked-nuts on the nose. The palate opens with intense white peach fruits, they flow with power from start to finish, all the while layers of smoky bacon fat and oyster-brine add complexity and build interest. Great drive and it lingers very long into the finish.

93 points

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“So excellent” 94+ points | Gary Walsh | The Wine Front

22 March 2022

If you’re into statistics, and detailed weather information, then Brian Croser is the man for you. Being English, and specifically Northern English, anyone who knows me well will know that weather observation is a wonderful source of interest for me.

Classic Hills Chardonnay, is probably a good way to describe it. It has flavour and fruit,

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A century of South Australian climate change

18 March 2022

Veteran of 52 vintages and the varying weather they have exhibited, Brian Croser, of Tapanappa in South Australia, wonders whether they’re in for a cooler period.

For the avoidance of doubt and of a fusillade of online scorn and abuse, what I am about to describe is the beginning of a cool vintage against a backdrop of inexorably increasing temperatures.

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95 points | The Wine Front – 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay

28 February 2022

The chardonnay vines on the Tiers Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley are all now well over 30 years old though some were planted in the late 1970s.

This is an intense glide of beautiful chardonnay flavour. It had me hooked straight up. There’s an amount of struck match character here too, for the record,

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“Top value for money” 93 Points | Huon Hooke | The Real Review

28 February 2022

Medium yellow colour, with a very rich, multi-faceted bouquet of buttered toast, roast hazelnut and candle wax. The wine is intense and mouthfilling, soft and rounded, with a slight impression of sweetness balanced by harmonious acid and tannin on the finish. It’s an affordable example of the full chardonnay symphony. Top value for money.

93 points

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“Fresh but also quite potent” 92 Points | Anne Krebiehl MW | Falstaff

1 February 2022

A most tender nose unites an overtone of jasmine with gentle notes of hazelnut and a citric note of creaminess. The palate shows concentration immediately and quite some punch – that is accompanied by equally pronounced freshness. The mid-palate has a creamy texture, full of citrus pith. This is fresh but also quite potent.

92 points

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“Sleek, thoroughbred beauty” 94 points | Anne Krebiehl MW | Falstaff.com

1 February 2022

A lovely sense of smokiness precedes the hazelnut notions on the nose. A touch of ripe yellow plum adds an irresistible sense of juiciness. The palate then unites exquisite, soaring freshness with absolute linearity and concentration. A toasty sense of oak harmonises with yellow plum and lemon to give aromatic colour to this sleek, thoroughbred beauty.

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“Beautiful, vivid and memorable.” – 2019 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay

1 February 2022

Subtle woodsmoke, Mirabelle jelly, wet loam and ripe lemon on the nose make for a dramatic and complex opening. The palate is immediately concentrated, a perfect calibration of creaminess and citric verve, all delivered with a super-fluid, smooth mouthfeel and super-charged, linear freshness. There is something urgent, something deeply refreshing and direct about the lemon purity of this wine,

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Tapanappa Unveils Latest Chardonnay Vintage

1 February 2022

As a pioneer of Australian cool-climate viticulture, Brian Croser was the first to plant Chardonnay in the Adelaide Hills – now his latest vintage is out.

Few people can claim pioneer status in the 21st century but Brian Croser can: he was the first to plant vines in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills in 1979 – in the Tiers Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley.

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Recent News

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7 May 2026

AUSTRALIAN CHARDONNAY: THE QUINTESSENTIAL GRAPE – Fine Wine Magazine

9 April 2026

2025 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnays

2 April 2026