Recognition

This is as classy as you would expect from a Brian Croser, Bollinger and Cazes family joint project. Barrel-fermented and oak-aged for 10 months, it is elegantly structured, tropical yet restrained, generous yet intense.…

Tapanappa, Tiers Chardonnay 2008 Piccadilly Valley 18 Drink 2010-2014

Current release. Open, vegy nose. Big and bold and an attempt at a Burgundy grand cru rather than even a premier cru wine! Very toothsome indeed. Well done! Long. Some honey …

2008 Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay

Brian Croser lives alongside the superb Tiers vineyard in the Adelaide Hills and coaxes one of the country’s finest chardonnays from its 30-year-old vines. This has restraint and fruit purity, wonderful texture and bright, refreshing acidity.…

Work of art from Brian Croser, the Australian wine master. But still young, so pour into a jug for an hour to develop its flavours – stone, nuts, citrus honey – and don’t serve it too cold. About 12C ought …

A small section of the Petaluma’s Piccadilly Valley vineyard goes to Brian Croser’s own gem, here with excitingly bright fruit, ginger and pineapple skin zing, citrussy acidity and five-star character.

97 points.…

17.5 points / 20

Brian Croser, never one to shy from a challenge, managed to create one of the greatest Tiers to date during the fierce heat of March 2008. The notes of lemon, grapefruit and citrus zest are subtle …

The 2008 Tiers Chardonnay has been named in Australia’s Top 100 Wines by Robert Geddes MW in his latest edition of Australian WIne Vintages (aka. the gold book).

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Let’s hope the chateau-length quality cork does justice to the wine through its life time, for this has marvellous varietal fruit flavour and intensity; immaculate oak handling adds the finishing touch; swells on the mid-palate, but is held by impressive …

I’ve banged on before about the quality of the Tapanappa range, particularly the Tiers Chardonnay, and I recently had the opportunity to put this quality to the test, with Brian Croser putting on a masterclass that pitted the Tapanappa wines …

The Tiers vineyard was planted in Piccadilly by Brian Croser in 1979. This 2008 vintage was was a particularly hot one, but perhaps because the wine was picked early, it has retained a really vibrant edge. The earliest releases where …

o interesting to see Tapanappa using 50% new oak with this wine, when Petaluma use 100% and charge a hell of a lot more for their Tiers Chardonnay, which isn’t necessarily any better a wine. The 2008 Tapanappa is quite …

?Chardonnay from the Hills too was expected to perform well and it did, with B. Croser’s Tapanappa tiers topping at 9.2/10, but do you think he got too much wood on it to be a record, or was there a …

The 2008 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay received 97 points, making it equal top Chardonnay.…

Quite brilliant. Rich, exotic, powerful modern Chardonnay. Oaky, nougat nose with ultra fine wood showing quite prominently, before a sour and textural, finely spicy palate thats very much in the oaked grapefruit style contemporary cool climate style. Very finely delineated …

Lively, refined and beautifully focused, showing citrus, pineapple and green berry flavors that linger on the deft, complex finish. Best from

2011 through 2018. 1,500 cases made.?H.S.…

Another powerful, multi-layered wine from Brian Croser. It opens slightly oaky and builds intense grapefruit flavours with other nuances. It’s a tidy wine: dry, compact, refined and long in the mouth. 5+ years.…

The hand-harvested Chardonnay from this seminal Adelaide Hills vineyard, first planted by Brian Croser in 1979, stood out for all of our Chardonnay judges for its purity and length. Both Louise and Tom noted “almonds” and “nuts”, while straw, peach …

Highly attractive cashew and white nectarine approaches to this elite Hills white, deft-ripeness bringing out a fine balance of French oak, zesty pineapple acidity and delicate coriander and kaffir lime herbal lifts that make this an exotic and edgy wine. …

Probably should have left this in the cupboard for another five years at least, but what the heck, we had a chardonnay lover in our midst and couldn’t resist the chance to show off. Claimed a few converts too. Super …

This has to be a serious contender for the title of Australia’s best chardonnay. Made from fruit grown in veteran winemaker Brian Croser’s family vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley of the Adelaide Hills, this is very much the product of …

Proof of the Grand Cru heights to which Brian Croser’s Tiers Vineyard can aspire to even in a warmer than normal vintage, this is an utterly pure and pristine wine. It has razor-edge line and profound persistence with delightfully fresh …

An impressively powerful, concentrated wine with grapefruit and cedary oak aromas already quite complex and rich. Intense, tightly structured, long and powerful in the mouth. Still a baby. Drink now to six years. 95/100.

Food: Roast chicken…

In 1978 Brian Croser released Petaluma Chardonnay 1977, a pioneering oak-fermented, oak-matured wine of striking quality. It came from warm Cowra and was the forerunner of later Petaluma vintages sourced from Croser’s vineyards in South Australia’s cool Piccadilly Valley. Over …

Tiers before bedtime? Not quite but it was an emotional experience nonetheless.

There’s some smoothness of the cremé caramel and almond paste persuasion but here’s a wine that’s characterised by its intense crunchy acid and strong minerality. There’s a white …