From eight-year-old vines at Parawa, within cooee of the Southern Ocean, Brian Croser has steered what he calls a "most fastidious variety" from this warmish vintage into a fruit-driven style though never leaving its silky textural pleasures. Superbly balanced with long-finishing spice and richness.
94 points
Food: Moroccan lamb
Croser's quest to make great pinot continues apace with this dark cherry-scented style, some bergamot and Earl Grey tea, sweet earthy depth, lighter perfume and bright red fruits. The palate is supple and smooth, with a composed bed of open-weave tannins flowing effortlessly and carrying ripe-cherry and berry pastry flavours, finishing precise and tangy. Lovely wine.
Score: 93 points, two glasses
Tapanappa 2010 Pinot Noir
Fish with a red wine - thats going to set some tongues wagging. But look into this recipe and it's all about the flavouring ingredients, the fennel, saffron, and especially the tomatoes, all wrapped tightly to be baked to a Mediteranean intensity. If ever you were going to look for a slightly more gutsy wine partner to fish, this is the time. And this pinot from Brian Croser's Fleurieu Peninsula vineyard at Parawa has the fruit to match the tomato sweetness of the dish as well as the texture and spice to maintain a distinctive presence in such a vibrant table setting.
I was busy tasting some Pinot Noir the other night, and I have to admit, I quite enjoyed it. This sits under the other Pinot Noir from Tapanappa – Foggy Hill.
Mint, squishy red fruits, nice oak – contributes a little pencil and spice. It’s medium weight, sweetly fruited and pulls through the mouth with good control – fine tannin and gentle, unforced acidity. Not the biggest of finishes, but good enough. Feels just a little too flat for a higher score, through there’s no doubting it offers a lovely Pinot drinking experience.
Rated : 91 Points
Drink : 2012 - 2017
Original review: http://www.winefront.com.au/tapanappa-parawa-pinot-noir-2010/
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What I needed for my £20 was a wine with lowish tannins, a nice bit of acidity and intriguing flavours that come and go in the glass.
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And third, to the cool Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia, where Brian Croser, one of Australia's greatest wine visionaries, planted pinot noir eight years ago and has conjured Burgundian subtlety from the young vines. It's worth the £20-plus premium.
Brian Croser, one of Australia's most respected winemakers, has been on a mission to find the perfect spot to grow pinot noir in Australia. He settled on the Fleurieu Peninsula on the tip of Sotuh Australia, and the result, while not (quite) perfect, is very fine indeed: seductive, graceful, sleek and complex, it's as good as many a pricier Burgundy.
Brian Croser raised a few eyebrows with his inaugural 2007 Foggy Hill, sourced from a region barely associated with top shelf Australian wine, let alone pinot noir. Then, with his follow up from 2008, Croser showed the capabilities of his special site with a wonderful release. But it's the 2009 which has really declared the winemaking legend's intentions of taking on Australia's very best exponents of the closely followed genre. With the exception of some of Ashton Hills' very best wines, I've never had a South Australian pinot noir so cleanly fruited, savoury, under spoken, beautifully made or astoundingly complex in its youth. Is it the future of South Australian pinot noir? I think so.
Good medium-depth colour; a very savoury briary style, with texture and structure its strengths; needs time to show whether there is enough pinosity (a Croser word) at its heart.
91 points / 4.5 glasses
Drink by 2015
Not surprisingly, Kiwi’s aren’t the only ones producing silky smooth wines Down Under. For an absolute corker, try Tapanappa, Foggy Hill Pinot Noir 2009, Adelaide Hills [Ed: Fleurieu Peninsula], South Australia. The colour of morello cherries, it’s produced by one of the country’s most famous winemakers, Brian Croser (formerly of Petaluma). Polished and beautifully structured with ribbons of red and black fruit, subtle tannins and an elegant finish, save this beauty for lightly seasoned dishes, rather than hickory-flavoured platters.
Deep crimson; the bouquet offers black plum, licorice and cinnamon; the palate is compact and firm, slowly revealing the sweet dark fruits that lie therein; mineral driven and savoury to conclude; a marked difference in style from the Foggy Hill Vineyard.
92 points / 4½ goblets - Drink by: 2018
