Description
Today Tapanappa is wholly owned and run by the Croser family of the Piccadilly Valley in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills. Tapanappa was created in 2002 by Brian and Ann Croser in partnership with Bollinger of Champagne and the Cazes family of Lynch Bages in Pauillac, Since 2002, the Croser family have invested significantly in the refinement of the viticulture of these three distinguished sites. The old vines at the Tiers and Whalebone vineyards have been restructured and re-trellised. New vineyards have been planted with superior clones on rootstocks at very close spacing at both the Tiers and Whalebone vineyards. The Croser family have also pioneered a new wine region at Parawa on the Fleurieu Peninsula by planting Dijon clones of Pinot Noir on rootstocks at the close spaced Foggy Hill Vineyard . These vineyard investments are consistent with Brian’s belief that Australia cannot compete with the best of the fine wines of Europe and North America without significant further investment in the improvement of vineyards aimed at improved grape and wine quality.
Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2009
Tapanappa Tasting Note
Classy stuff in quite classy packaging (contentious cork aside) too, the whole shebang suggesting quality wine. What is interesting here (besides how different it is to the 2008) is largely how different this is to many Coonawarra reds, which is surely a good thing for a region that struggles due to its neighbour’s reputation. There is peppermint here for starters, which obviously isn’t going to be to everyone’s tastes, yet itsnot obvious or intrusive – just part of the furniture. It’s a winey wine for that matter (rather than a ‘fruit’ wine) with cedar, and sexy oak and tannins with less berries and more secondary notes, everything capped off with dry, powerful tannins. Asophisticated, mid-weight Cabernet this is elegant, long, slightly minty, powerful and ultimate rather clever – a little cool and reserved perhaps, yet still quite easy to like. Nice wine. Nice Wrattonbully wine.
Wine Companion Tasting Note
An 84/16% blend aged for 22 months in 70% new French oak. Blackcurrant fruit is the main driver, albeit backed up on the mid-palate by more fleshy shiraz; it is medium-bodied, perfectly balanced, the tannins silky, the oak not at all over the top, the finish long. (01-Aug-2013) James Halliday
Wine Direct Tasting Note
The Whalebone Vineyard terroir exerts its strength in the Cabernet Shiraz blend as a combination of smokey Eucalypt, anise and fresh earth aromas and flavours. The Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz has the fruit sweet core of ripe mulberry and blackberry provided by Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz.. The Cabernet Franc provides a floral aroma note and silky tannin texture and has much greater influence than the 10% component suggests.
