Recognition

Listen to Brian’s live podcast “Cork Talk” with Tim Atkins MW on Brian’s thoughts about Australian fine wine and the future of fine wine world:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2XSErrxRTCziVWJziLbmjw?si=57ErAnmzQRmdN3oUGtzt-A

 » Read more about: Live podcast “Cork Talk” with Tim Atkins MW  »

This parcel has performed so impressively in 2020, with trademark white-peach aromas and a subtle lemon-cream edge. The oak is so well integrated here. There’s impressive seamlessness on the palate with citrus-nuanced stone fruit carrying so long and fresh. Thrilling chardonnay. Drink or hold.

97 points

 » Read more about: “Thrilling Chardonnay” – 2020 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

This offers the same blend of lemon and white peach seen in the old-vine Tiers Chardonnay from this vintage, with greater oak influence reading in the wine for now. The intensity is impressive, with acidity driving a vivid, powerful palate. Drink over the next five years. Screw cap.

94 points

 » Read more about: “The intensity is impressive” – 2020 Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

On September 30 I retire by decree, as a director of Wine Australia after an eventful seven years including three quite different iterations of the board and two chairpersons, not counting an interim chairperson.

I am the only soldier left standing from the initial board of Wine Australia, beginning as an amalgamation of the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation and the Australian Grape and Wine Research and Development Corporation in July 2014.

 » Read more about: Croser reflects on 40 years of industry politics – and nothing much has changed!  »

We can never know About tomorrow Still we have to choose Which way to go

You and I are standing At the crossroads Darling, there is one thing You should know

When I joined a wine publishing house 21 years ago my boss Paul Clancy gave me his old tuxedo for all those dinners he didn’t want to go to,

 » Read more about: The Life of Brian  »

Tiers Vineyard replanted in 2003 to clones 76 and 95 at 1.5m row spacing. Close planting produces earlier ripening and fuller flavours, yielding a generous style in this warm year. Pristine white peach fruit glimpses at mandarin exotics, underscored by toasty, spicy, honeyed French oak. The signature tense acidity of this cool site defines a lively,

 » Read more about: Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay 2019 – 92 points Silver  »

450m elevation; planted 1979, the first vineyard in the modern Adelaide Hills. Celebrating the 40th anniversary of its planting, this fabled site experienced a much warmer vintage than average in 2019. Classic fig and white peach notes have edged toward orange and mandarin exoticism, carrying all the power of Tiers in a full-bodied palate of spicy,

 » Read more about: Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2019 – 93 points Silver  »

Characterful and energetic, this is probably the most distinctive pinot that Brian Croser has drawn from his Foggy Hill Vineyard yet. The best clones in the best part of the site unite in a savoury style, filled with beetroot, Moroccan souk and bay leaf. Juicy strawberries and red cherries of a warm season offer flesh and body,

 » Read more about: Definitus Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 – 94 points Silver  »

Signature Wrattonbully, from menthol-tinted aromatics and cassis-defined palate to fine-grained, powdery, chalk-dusted tannins. A cool season heightens tang, freshness, endurance and beauty. Everything works together confidently for a future as long as the cork holds out. 

 » Read more about: Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2017 – 94 points Silver  »

A cooler season works its magic, lifting the violet perfume of cabernet, the black pepper of shiraz, the bright tang of acidity and the fine-ground energy of enduring, chalk-bound tannins. Regional menthol assumes its rightful place. Medium-bodied effortlessness is refreshing. A keeper.

 » Read more about: Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2017 – 95 points Gold  »

15% of the fruit was placed at the bottom of the fermenting tubs, progressively crushed. Each block was pressed separately, and clonally, then settled and matured on full lees in one-third new barriques for 10 months. A darker note of berry here – blueberry and black cherry. It’s fully fragrant, with the stems adding their woody spice and seasoning.

 » Read more about: Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2019 – 96 points Gold “Top Rated”  »

Light yellow colour. The nose is reductive, smoky matchstick, a kiss of oak too, in balance. Small flowers, quite lovely fruit-driven aromas. The palate is soft and round and refined, tapering a bit towards the back. The acid is a trifle firm, but the steeliness would help it go with food. Mouth-watering finish. It’s young and will be even better next year.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5M Chardonnay  »

If you cast your mind back to the very beginning of Covid last year you might think the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse got a head start when fires ravaged many vineyards in the Eastern States. But their work was only beginning

With extreme heat, fire, smoke and then rain, you could assume that as vintages go this was close to Hell.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

Describing himself humbly as a ‘single vineyard vigneron’, others in the wine trade might call Tapanappa’s Brian Croser ‘a vine and wine visionary’ or ‘innovator’. In a career that has spanned more than 50 years he has arguably done more than anyone to shape the Australian wine industry – a true trailblazer, mentor and industry leader.

 » Read more about: The New Normal: Winemaking in the COVID environment  »

The Tiers Vineyard Old Block in the Piccadilly Valley is 41 years old, planted in 1980.

The oldest planting at The Tiers was planted the year before in 1979 and was pulled out in 2003 to make way for the new Tiers 1.5m planting of Dijon clones on rootstock at the high vine density of 1.5 metres between rows and 1.5m metres between vines in the row (4,444 vines/hectare).

 » Read more about: Tiers Has A Hip Replacement  »

Pinot Noir doesn’t need to taste like Burgundy to be good. This Tapanappa Definitus Pinot Noir 2018 is the example of this.

It’s a Pinot of rippling power. Of tannins and conviction. A Bordeaux drinkers Pinot Noir, if you’re still looking for a French connection, that arguably trades less in seduction and more in structure.

 » Read more about: 2018 Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard DEFINITUS Pinot Noir  »

If you’ve got elite fruit power, don’t be afraid to show it. This has an Olympic athlete’s body: big frame, strong muscle, yet supple. The palate gently flexes a range of flavours through the long ride – stonefruit orchard, a bite of fleshy pear, golden apples, lemon pith. Completely seamless…

97 points

 » Read more about: 2018 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay – 97 points  »

The Piccadilly Valley has a proud history of crafting great Australian Chardonnay, and was the original home of Petaluma. This wine shows the same combination of bright, youthful and complex fruit in an elegant style. The wine is pale golden and a pretty, understated and finely detailed style. There are many layers – citrus, apple,

 » Read more about: 2018 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay  »

Brian Croser’s vision of a great Right Bank Bordeaux, realised. Or at least that’s the drift with this Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2017. Sometimes this Wrattonbully red can seem too ripe and too ambitious, but it feels rather right with this ’17 iteration. Sadly the Cab Shiraz I tasted alongside it was corked, and I’m having a bad run of TCA in top end Aus reds lately.

 » Read more about: 2017 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc  »

I haven’t read the press notes on this wine but 2020 in the Adelaide Hills was an interesting time, no doubt. There’s plenty of fruit power here. And texture. And form. It feels powerful and well honed and, indeed, has a quartz-like aspect to it. Yellow peach, grapefruit, nectarine, woodsmoke and cedar characters shoot convincingly through.

 » Read more about: “This makes an impression” 2020 Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay  »

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, though the pear,

 » Read more about: “It had me hooked straight up” 2020 The Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay  »

Brian Croser’s vision of a great Right Bank Bordeaux, realised. Or at least that’s the drift with this Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2017. Sometimes this Wrattonbully red can seem too ripe and too ambitious, but it feels rather right with this ’17 iteration. Sadly the Cab Shiraz I tasted alongside it was corked, and I’m having a bad run of TCA in top end Aus reds lately.

 » Read more about: 2017 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc  »

Bright ripe-peach and lemon aromas on offer here, framed in some spiced, hazelnut-like oak and nougat. The palate has quite punchy, fresh stone-fruit flavors and acidity holds the finish taut. Drink now. Screw cap. 

92 Points

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay  »

Tough vintage, to say the least, and yet out if it you get something as beautiful as this classy chardonnay from the Piccadilly Valley. Lot of white peach and nectarine characters with a pristine purity. Crisp fine minerally acidity and lovely oak treatment come into play to carry the palate to an effortlessly long finish.

 » Read more about: 2020 Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay  »