Recognition

A warm and dry vintage for the region in 2019, which helped ensure that the Whalebone Vineyard, planted 45 years ago, had a very small yield. The wine is a blend of 85% Cabernet and 15% Shiraz. The Shiraz comes from the Crayères Vineyard. After destemming, the two varieties were fermented separately, after cold soaking.

 » Read more about: “An attractive style for drinking over the best part of the next decade.” 94 Points – SA Wine Guide 2025 | The Vintage Journal | Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cab Shiraz 2019  »

Confusingly, this new, limited-edition model from the Croser stable is from Mount Barker SA, not the more common Mt Barker WA. Regardless it’s amazingly fragrant and exceptionally easy to drink despite its nearly 15 per cent. 9.5/10.

 » Read more about: “Amazingly fragrant and exceptionally easy to drink” 9.5/10 – Max Crus Wine Commentator – Tapanappa B&V Vineyard Syrah 2021  »

This is about as fashionable as merlot gets, however, just because you have money, doesn’t mean you have taste, in which case buy this to cover it up. Scrumptious red wine for the rich and fashionable. 9.5/10.

 » Read more about: “As fashionable as merlot gets” 9.5/10 – Max Crus Wine Commentator – Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cab Franc 2019  »

There are very few Australian Pinot releases where you crack a bottle open and think, ‘This needs six years’. It just doesn’t happen. Bindi, maybe, some of the structured Yarra Pinot releases (Mount Mary sometimes), Bannockburn, By Farr, Domaine A. It’s a small collection. (I had a stab at a cellarworthy Pinot list many moons ago.

 » Read more about: “A little Maturity goes a long way” 94 Points – Andrew Graham | OZ Wine Review – Tapanappa Foggy Hill ‘Definitus’ Pinot Noir 2018  »

The red berry scent is complemented by hints of star anise, mint and high quality oak. Lingering varietal flavour carries the tannin firmness well. Needs 3-5 years.

 » Read more about: “Lingering varietal flavour carries the tannin firmness well.”- 4.5 stars | Lester Jesberg | Wine Wise – Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir 2023  »

Grapes rotting on vines; billions of bottles’ worth of wine sitting in tank farms, wanted by no one. Australia’s inland bulk wine producers are in crisis, causing an image problem for the wider industry.

BRIAN CROSER claps a heavy hand on my shoulder and drags me in from the cold.

 » Read more about: CRUSHED HOPES  »

Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Tiers Vineyard (Alt. 450m) Chardonnay 2023, $110. About as much going on as a chardonnay can provide and all of it good. Somewhat lighter than exxy chardonnays are renowned, and better for it. Alas, few will discover what chardonnay can be, and true, it is merely different in the end and depends what you prefer,

 » Read more about: “About as much going on as a chardonnay can provide” 9.7/10 – Max Crus Wine Commentator – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2022  »

The 2022 Chardonnay is all class. It unleashes a mouthwatering torrent of stone fruit flavor on the palate, filling it with a rising tide of chalky phenolics, piercing fruit flavor, intense acidity, crushed nuts and brine. Awesome. At under $50 AUD, this is one of the great value premium Chardonnays in Australia.13.7% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

 » Read more about: “The 2022 Chardonnay is all class.” 94 Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate | Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2022  »

The 2022 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard 1.5m is exactly what I expected it to be: excellent. A piercing intensity of flavor is matched by the piercing (and juicy) acidity. It fills the mouth side to side with sapid, staining fruit and lingers long through the finish. A superstar wine. It’s got a massive reputation for a reason.

 » Read more about: “Exactly what I expected it to be: excellent.” 95 Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate – Tapanappa Tiers 1.5M Vineyard Chardonnay 2022  »

The Tapanappa 2022 Chardonnay Tiers Vineyard is one of Australia’s great Chardonnays, and that has never been more apparent than in this 2022 vintage. A superstar wine of grand proportions, the fruit has startling intensity in the mouth. The juicy acidity that weaves all elements of the wine together shows the pedigree of the site up in Piccadilly Valley (planted 1979).

 » Read more about: “A superstar wine of grand proportions” 97+ Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2022  »

What a super wine this is. As we all know, good Chardonnay often comes at a price, given the necessary inputs required to come together. From quality oak, lower-yielding vines and often time spent maturing prior to release, it’s easy to see the costs mounting up; and for this reason, we go to premium producers who are able to realize the quality of the fruit within already existing winery structures.

 » Read more about: “Worth every cent of that” 94 Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate | Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2023  »

The 2023 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay has elderflower and white peach, pressed flowers and kiwi fruit, custard apples and scraped vanilla pod. The wine is delicate but also powerful and finishes in a spooling flourish of flavor and salty acidity. A very smart wine here, it is decidedly cool in feel. Patience will be required in order to see this wine unfurl to its best;

 » Read more about: “Delicate but also powerful” 95 Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  »

The 2021 B & V Syrah leads with fenugreek and arnica, cassis, blackcurrant and raspberry seed. Once the wine is moving in the glass, it really opens up beautifully. On the palate, the wine is succulent and polished, with plenty of grip and grit from the tannins and seamless flow of the fruit. I find the alcohol more prominent than expected,

 » Read more about: “Well constructed, complex and intriguing”- 92 points | Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate – Tapanappa B&V Vineyard Syrah 2021  »

The 2018 Definitus Pinot Noir Foggy Hill is darker in the glass than the Foggy Hill Pinot tasted beside it, and this wine enters with a rich cascade of cherry and woodsy spice, forest underbrush/sous bois, aged leather and old books. As an avid book collector, this is a positive, evocative, haunting smell for me.

 » Read more about: “Has magnificent length and carry through the finish” 93 Points – Erin Larkin | Wine Advocate  – Tapanappa Foggy Hill ‘Definitus’ Pinot Noir 2018  »

Hay colour. Light ginger biscuit feels amid crunchy early season white nectarine, spilling into a fresh palate, lime-like citrus juices, with a tangy edge to season the ripe fruit flavours and delicate savoury finishing notes. Neatly crafted styling.

12.5% alc Drink now–2032

 » Read more about: “Neatly crafted styling.” 92 Points – SA Wine Guide 2025 | The Vintage Journal | Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2023  »

From the Hills pioneer Chardonnay vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley, immediately a class above, lovely ripe white stone fruit aromas, subtle creaminess and flaked white nuts, everything deliciously balanced and edged with underlying citrussy acidity, chardonnay fruit magic vital to the end of the day. 12.9% alc Drink now–2034

 » Read more about: “Everything deliciously balanced and edged” 95 Points – SA Wine Guide 2025 | The Vintage Journal | Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  »

A flashy and deeply brooding chardonnay with aromas of nectarines, peaches, Meyer lemons and gun smoke. The palate is medium-bodied with vivid acidity and a generous mouthfeel, giving notes of grapefruit pith, orange blossoms and chalk. Very complex with underlying freshness. Excellent. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

 » Read more about: “A flashy and deeply brooding chardonnay” TOP 100 WINES OF AUSTRALIA 2024| 96 Points – JamesSuckling.com | Tapanappa Tiers 1.5M Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  »

Fresh aromas of minerals, lemon peel, gun smoke and grapefruit. The palate is medium-bodied with focused acidity and a textural mouthfeel, giving notes of lime curd, orange blossoms, shortbread, flint and baking spices. Wonderfully balanced, with both power and vivid acidity. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

97 Points

 » Read more about: “Medium-bodied with focused acidity and a textural mouthfeel” 97 Points – JamesSuckling.com | Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  »

Same winemaking as the Merlot blend, but this wine soaks up the oak perfectly. It’s dark and oak framed, but the core of dark berry minty impact is bold enough to take out. It’s brooding, chocolatey, tannic, and somehow more lively and fresher than the Merlot Cab. I closed my eyes and picked it up as a three-year-old,

 » Read more about: “Just feels right”- 18/20 | Andrew Graham | OZ Wine Review – Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cab Shiraz 2019  »

A blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc, which is standard fare for Bordeaux but an outlier blend in South Australia. 470 dozen produced. Spends 18 months in 50% new and 50% single-use oak, which has a lot of dominant barrel character. Hard to miss the oak, or this wine – it’s black and coffeed with thick dried fruit,

 » Read more about: “It will live forever.”- 17.5/20 | Andrew Graham | OZ Wine Review – Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cab Franc 2019  »

Appealing and complex nose of lemon, honey, melon and a touch of spiced peach with some hints of gunflint and oak spice. On the palate it has a lovely balance of freshness and focused fruit, with a refined and quite restrained style, beautifully integrated oak, and a touch of minerality. The finish is long,

 » Read more about: “Finely etched and very convincing” Master – Siobhan Turner MW| Global Chardonnay Master | Drink Business – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay 2023  »

Hailing from Adelaide Hills’ oldest block of Chardonnay – which was planted in 1979 – is this outstanding white from the brilliant winemaker that is Brian Croser. Although rich in flavours, it’s light in texture, with a clean, citrusy sensation, and a surprisingly moderate 12.5% ABV. As for what you taste, it’s a moreish mix of hazelnuts,

 » Read more about: “Lingering, enlivening, but also age-worthy” Master – Patrick Schmitt MW | Global Chardonnay Master | Drink Business – Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard 1.5m Chardonnay 2023  »

‘A lot of pain’: The hangover looming from Australia’s budget-wine boom
Grapes rotting on vines; billions of bottles’ worth of wine sitting in tank farms:
many inland wine producers are facing an unpalatable truth.

By Luke Slattery • November 09, 2024 – 05.00am

Grapes rotting on vines; billions of bottles’ worth of wine sitting in tank farms: many inland wine producers are facing an unpalatable truth.

 » Read more about: ‘A lot of pain’: The hangover looming from Australia’s budget-wine boom  »

Medium-full red/brick-red colour; the bouquet is mellow, complex and loaded with charred roast-meat, dried mushroom and sousbois characters, earthy/dried-herb and leather nuances, traces of tobacco as well. The structure is firm and the tannins provide backbone and extend the length of the back-palate. Serious pinot noir, ageing gracefully.

 » Read more about: “Serious pinot noir, ageing gracefully.” 95 Points – Houn Hooke | The Real Review – Tapanappa Foggy Hill ‘Definitus’ Pinot Noir 2018  »