Recognition

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 21^st century but Brian Croser …

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 …

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 …

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…

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 …

Somewhat puckered peach—skin, flesh, kernel—and a sniff off that often elusive match-strike that many a Chardonnay-lover desires. There’s a wheaty, grainy edge to it also. Has a bracing, briny breeze on a beach-type thing about it, and it’s loaded with …

Tapanappa founder/winemaker, Brian Croser, calls the 2020 vintage “unique.” Despite COVID, bushfires and a severe frost in his beloved Tiers Vineyard in the Adelaide Hills, he uses the word in an upbeat way. Flowering and fruit set in the vines …

While not quite of the same calibre as the exceptional Tiers, this Tapanappa Piccadilly Valley Chardonnay 2018 is another solid Adelaide Hills Chardonnay. Tight and citrussy lemon butter style, the palate very much driven by tangy grapefruit and less about oak richness. …

The warm season is certainly reflected in this wine, with honey, fig and even brulee, all finely balanced by citrussy acidity. Enjoyable drink now style.

94 points…

Super fine lemon and fresh-peach aromas on offer here. The oak is nicely bedded-in with background, grilled-hazelnut notes. There’s a very sleek, powerful feel to the palate that delivers such elegant yet intense flavors of lemons and white peaches. Tightly …

Super fine lemon and fresh-peach aromas on offer here. The oak is nicely bedded-in with background, grilled-hazelnut notes. There’s a very sleek, powerful feel to the palate that delivers such elegant yet intense flavors of lemons and white peaches. Tightly …

Medium to light straw-yellow hue, with a dominant note of sawn-timber and cedary oak in the aroma. The palate is refreshing with abundant lemony flavour and crisp, elevated acidity, the aftertaste tangy and nervy. This needs food, the acidity is …

Off to the Yarra Valley tomorrow, so why not taste a few Adelaide Hills Chardonnays.

Just lovely. Flavour and finesse. Struck match, white peach and ripe grapefruit, fine chalky texture, acidity rails through it, tang and drive, but softness of …

Unusually it seems exotically aromatic, Indian sandalwood and spice; touches of stonefruit and citrus, more traditionally, sit in the background. Generous thrust of grapefruit like acidity, oft stated as a hallmark of Piccadilly, with an almost chalk like phenolic veneer …

An amalgam of vineyards. This shows plenty of fruit weight and good complexity in terms of winemaker influence. There is also a wealth of grapefruit, as well as flinty and spicy nuances. The acidity sits well on the palate. There …

Impressive finesse and power in this cooler vintage. Citrus and white peaches intertwine with a taut acid wrap. Toasted hazelnuts through the zesty finish. Drink or hold. 

92 Points…