Tapanappa Tiers Chardonnay 2023

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 the 2023 vintage from Brian Croser: “Cool like the 2020, 2021 and 2022 vintages before it, the 2023 vintage in the Piccadilly Valley was the lowest crop and the coolest of the four. The 2023 vintage gave a heat summation of 1093C-days, versus the long-term average of 1135C-days. We have now had four successive cooler vintages, 2020 to 2023, after the near unrelenting warmth of the previous decade of vintages.

“The Chardonnay crop was very modest in the Tiers old block at 3.3 tonnes/hectare. The grapes in the 42-year-old Tiers Vineyard ripened in still and cool air, sunny conditions, ideal autumnal weather and just before a rain event. Tiers Vineyard old block yielded up its exceptional quality fruit on the 12th and 13th of April, two weeks later than average and one of the latest ever.

“The hand harvested Chardonnay grapes from the Tiers Vineyard old block (1981), were chilled in trays in the cold-room to 2C. The cold grapes were tipped into our gentle air-bag presses and the whole fruit pressed juice was pumped to tank before being gravitated to French oak barriques (one third new) for fermentation. The fermentation lasted two months in the cool autumn conditions. The wine was barrel aged on full lees until November of 2023 when it was clear racked from barrique and bottled.

“The colour of 2023 Tiers is pale lemon. The aroma displays characters reflective of this cool year with subtle, aromatic apple and pear with honey and lemon, complexed by yeast, cashew and oak spice. The flavour is intense and fresh with a lingering acidity.

“The taut edge of acid and the slight astringency and bitterness of the grapefruit finish, perfectly offset the fruit and texture that are the hallmarks of fruit from this vineyard. 2023 Tiers Chardonnay is “a very cool vintage of a unique wine defined by the truly distinguished Tiers Vineyard terroir”.”

96 points, Mike Bennie for Halliday Wine Companion “The cooler year renders a wine of tension and torsion, precision and finesse. It’s heavily perfumed, an invitation to drink lustily, with green apple, lime, ginger, cinnamon and faint alpine herb characters lightly dusted with clove-cedar oak. Just so. The palate has immense vitality and length, a pleasing, almost lightly hazy texture captured in ripples of briny acidity holding in more apple, cinnamon, clove and licks of peach and green almond. Lots going on here; an immensely satisfying and serious wine. And delicious, importantly.”

96 points, Gary Walsh, The Wine Front “Pear, grapefruit and lemon oil, almond meal and biscuit spices. It’s a bright and tight wine, a distinctly citrus-laced line of acidity, grapefruit, green olive and honey lemon, it’s flinty too, though has a light creamy cashew gloss to temper, and the finish is long with a zesty aftertaste. This seems like a long term wine, and while it’s kind of brittle as at now, its intensity and length mark it out as a classic Chardonnay.“

96 points, Huon Hooke, The Real Review “Lighty toasted cashewnut aroma, hints of vanilla and almond-meal, the palate refined and tense, concentrated and yet seamlessly textured and composed. The wine is very smooth and rounded, with plenty of acidity but you barely feel it. Lovely depth of flavour and balance. Nigh-invisible oak; long carry. Superb chardonnay.”

Gold & 95 points, Decanter World Wine Awards “Enticing citrus, orchard fruit and grilled cashew notes flow and swirl around the simmering acidity and fine creamy texture and propel towards the enchanting, long finish.”

95 points, Jeni Port, Wine Pilot “If Tiers 1.5m Chardonnay hails from the “new” block of French Bernard clones planted in 2003, fruit for this Tiers Chardonnay is off the “old” block, the original block established in 1979. A cool vintage and low yields bring good concentration, but what really characterises the wine is its open and inviting summery bounce and energy. It rocks. Orange and citrus blossom aromatics, a hint of honeysuckle join aromas of apple, citrus, grapefruit, white peach and spice. Lemony bright acidity rules the palate, enticing tastebuds and melding with lemon sorbet, zest, stone fruit and a distinctive quince tang against a nougat warm and buttery texture. Layer upon layer of concentrated flavour . . . and bounce. “

RRP $114  Our Special Price $96.99 when you buy 6 or more of this wine