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Arguably the best Tapanappa Pinot Noir to date. The bouquet is complex, with a light touch of oak. The fruit takes in both berries and plums, and the silky palate is as well balanced and focused as it is long.
Rating: 95
Drink By: 2019
A trio of reviews from Jancis Robinson
Tapanappa, Whalebone Vineyard 2009 Wrattonbully, 16.5+
“Mid blackish ruby. Firm and meaty on the nose. Actually it does not taste dominated by Cabernet. Subtle and appetising. Still with tannins in evidence but very fine textured and warming but certainly not hot on the finish. Cries out for food. Clearly made with minimal additions. Long and vibrant. Still quite young and earthy.”
Tapanappa, Whalebone Vineyard Merlot/Cabernet Franc 2009 Wrattonbully, 17
“Bright ruby red. Subtle, savoury, earthy notes. Really very restrained for an Australian red! Perhaps the slightest of minty hints? Very cool, sophisticated, dry finish. Super-appetising and quite youthful. Some palates may even criticise it for being too light. Lots more still to come. Hint of tarmacadam on the finish.”
I have been quite a fan of Brian Croser’s Tapanappa wines, since being introduced to them when I visited him back in 2005. Making fine wine is a long-term project, especially when you are planting new vineyards. It takes the best part of a generation for most to really believe in a new project, in part because most reviewers and authorities are reluctant to take a strong position on a new wine, and tend to give the established classics the benefit of the doubt, even when they don’t deserve this.
This pinot noir has a lot of gravitas with a deep colour and spicy bouquet. It’s slightly oak dominant at first with black cherry emerging in time. It’s dense and persistent with satisfying flavour, backed by a spine of tannins.
95 points / 5 stars
A single vineyard pinot that is now showing glorious vintage sympathies, here everything ripe, spicy and dark fruited from a warm year, its balance and poise mesmerising.
In 2003 Brian Croser planted three Dijon clones of pinot noir at about 350 metres altitude on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula. Elevation and proximity to the cold Southern Ocean give Croser’s Foggy Hill site a unique microclimate, dramatically cooler than the nearby shiraz country of McLaren Vale and Langhorne Creek – sufficiently so to give Croser great confidence in pinot noir. The vineyard’s pinots showed promise from the first vintage in 2007. But in the warm 2012 season, promise turns to excitement, with a slightly deeper, riper style than I’ve tasted in previous years. The underlying varietal flavour leans towards darker fruits like plum and cherry. This is overlaid with a subtly stalky touch, derived from the stems of whole-bunches, and the intriguing earthy–savoury notes of good pinot.
From the Fleurieu Peninsula, this is the most savoury and dense of the trio, loaded with aromas of forest floor and smoky fire embers with rhubarb and dark cherry fruit freshened up by a tart, cranberry-like acidity.
93 points
John Fordham compiled his top 100 wines to coincide with Highlife magazine's 100th issue, and Tapanappa managed to sneak not one, but two onto the list.
Both in ther under $60 category, the 2010 Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir and the 2007 Wrattonbully Cabernet Shiraz made the cut.
“Just love winemaker Brian Croser and here is yet another winner from him. Best Aussie pinot I have tasted for a long while, worth the extra dollars.”
Rating: 97/100
“Pretty strict and sappy, with peppery stalky bits, raspberry verging on framboise (liqueur), mint chocolate and cedar. Light to medium bodied, strawberry and raspberry, clarity of acidity is attractive and shape is excellent. Stalky notes on the nose are a bit strong, it seemed, but given time in the glass, more and more pinosity came through and the stalk receded. Minor amount of warmth showing. Needs time in the bottle and perhaps a bigger finish, but the potential is there. I’ve learnt over the years that these Foggy Hill wines can be wily beasts. Let’s see.”
92+ Points
