Description
Brian Croser really needs no introduction. Having founded the iconic winery Petaluma in the 70’s, Brian is recognised as Australia’s leading exponent of terroir driven wines. He has been awarded the Order of Australia, Decanter Wine Magazine ‘Man of the Year’ and many other accolades for his life long contribution and service to the Australian wine industry. Having sold Petaluma in 2001, the Croser family, along with their business partners the Bollinger Champagne family set up Tapanappa Wines on some of the countries most distinguised vineyard sites; 30 year old Tiers Vineyard, Piccadilly Valley, Adelaide Hills; 35 year old Whalebone Cabernet/Shiraz vineyard in Wrattonbully and pioneering Foggy Hill Pinot Noir Vineyard on the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia.
The Croser family planted the first vines in the Tiers Vineyard in 1979, the first vineyard planted in the Adelaide Hills region in the 20th century. It is in every way a “distinguished site” pioneering the true cool climate wine industry of South Australia.
The Tiers Vineyard is in the centre of the Adelaide Hills in the Piccadilly Valley under the Eastern shadow of Mount Lofty. The Piccadilly Valley is one of the few genuine homo-climes of Burgundy in Australia. When Brian and Ann Croser took their young family to the Piccadilly Valley in 1978 to establish the Petaluma winery, they purchased the 7-hectare property they named The Tiers as their home and the site for a revolutionary Chardonnay vineyard.
The property was named The Tiers in recognition of the name the 1836 pioneers gave to the central Adelaide Hills in as seen from the Adelaide plain. The original name for the Piccadilly Valley was The Tiers Valley. 3 hectares of adjacent low-lying land was purchased for the establishment of the Petaluma winery. Brian Croser had identified the Piccadilly Valley as one of the best places in Australia to plant Chardonnay based on the cool climate requirement to elicit the best qualities of this early ripening variety.
About this wine from Brian Croser ....“This tasting note is one of those rare opportunities to describe a truly wonderful wine, better than almost all that has gone before. The delayed ripening of a very small crop in perfect cool, dry and sunny conditions, has defined a very special Chardonnay from the unique and distinguished Tiers Vineyard terroir. The colour is pale lemon green. The aroma is immediately intense, fresh and appealing, mainly of the primary fruit, sweet ripe nectarine with a hint of yeast cashew and oak spice. The aroma compels the need to taste, which amplifies the intensity, freshness, budding complexity, mouth-filling fruit sweetness and texture and finally the cutting edge of acid and slight grapefruit finish of a wine that nearly defies description beyond “wow”. You may think I have over-reached. Just try the wine for yourself. 2020 Tiers Chardonnay is “a very special vintage of a unique wine defined by a truly distinguished vineyard terroir”.
97 points, No.46 of Top 100 Wines of Australia 2021, James Suckling “This parcel has performed so impressively in 2020, with trademark white-peach aromas and a subtle lemon-cream edge. The oak is so well integrated here. There’s impressive seamlessness on the palate with citrus-nuanced stone fruit carrying so long and fresh. Thrilling chardonnay. Drink or hold.”
98 points, Ray Jordan, The Western Australian “… Like the rest of Australia, it was a very small crop resulting in a wine of deep fruit concentration. Once again, the wine spent an extended time until February this year on full lees, allowing pick up of further complexity and textural mouth feel. The striking feature is the palate power and length. I have tasted many of these wines but I don’t think I have tasted better.”
95 points, Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front “.. This is an intense glide of beautiful chardonnay flavour. It had me hooked straight up. There’s an amount of struck match character here too, for the record, though the pear, white peach, grapefruit and citrus characters are where the main action is at. This is delicious. This is powerful. This is lengthy. It feels a bit wild, in a good way, but it simultaneously feels pure, somehow. It’s terrific. “
95 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review “Light straw colour. Cashew nut, straw, biscuit and creamy lees aromas, restrained and fresh and delicate, but extremely intense and concentrated on the middle palate. The acidity is searing, a trifle domineering perhaps, but will easily be absorbed by any food. Long, long persistence. Potential plus.”
95 points, Jeni Port for Halliday’s 2022 Australian Wine Companion “Hand-picked fruit, chilled in trays, whole-berry pressed, fermented in French oak barriques (one-third new). Matured in barrel on full lees. From a year of frost and fire comes, according to Brian Croser, a ‘miracle’. The 2020 offers a celebration not only of fruit but life, a beauty of a chardonnay fresh and immediate in appeal but oh so capable of a much longer time in bottle. Flashes of honeysuckle, citrus, nectarine, apple and a whisper of mango skin wrapped around brisk acidity. But there’s more to the palate: it’s creamy and leesy, textural and long, but not heavy in the least.”
Our Price $99.99 Last stocks
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.