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NOTES
Tapanappa the name is probably derived from the local aboriginal language meaning "stick to the path". In late 2001 Petaluma, the company Brian Croser founded in 1976 was taken over by Lion Nathan. That event ended the 30-year Croser family ownership involvement in fine wine production but only temporarily. Even as the ink was drying on the Petaluma purchase, friends and partners for 17 years in Petaluma, Champagne Bollinger made a pact with the Croser family to begin again.
Then along came the Cazes family from Chateau Lynch Bages in Pauillac, Bordeaux. On a trip to Australia in 2002, Jean-Michel and his son Jean-Charles met with Brian and quickly agreed to join the partnership. The partnership is founded in a strongly mutually held belief that some pieces of ground are much better than others for the production of fine wine. Of course this superiority is highly specific to varieties and wine style.
FOGGY HILL VINEYARD
The Foggy Hill Vineyard is on a northwest facing slope at 300 to 350 metres (ASL) at Parawa, the highest point of the Fleurieu Peninsula half way between Victor Harbor and Cape Jervis.
The soils are derived from the Tertiary era (67ma) remnant lateritic plateau of the Fleurieu Peninsula and include outcrops of ironstone (ferricrete), which litter the slope beneath the vines. These ironstone deposits are the result of the deep weathering of the underlying meta-sandstones of the Back Stairs Passage Formation, Cambrian era (570ma) sediments of the Kanmantoo Group.
The steep slope of Foggy Hill Vineyard ensures that the soil is of moderate depth and free draining containing a jumble of the ironstone eroded from the outcrops. These are ideal viticultural soils and particularly for the very fastidious Pinot Noir variety. The climate of Foggy Hill Vineyard is very maritime. The Great Southern Ocean just 8 kilometres to the south keeps the winter warm and the summer cool. Bud burst is early in September and the crop is harvested in the middle of March. During this 7 month growing season the heat summation is only 1134.7ºC days, which is even cooler than Piccadilly at 1172ºC days, and there is rarely a hot day although the nights are warm. The average diurnal temperature difference for the growing season is a low 8.45°C and the 3pm humidity is high at 64%.
The very cool, humid and even Foggy Hill climate is ideal for encouraging the production of the exotic aromatic and ethereal qualities described as the peacock’s tail of Pinot Noir. Foggy Hill Vineyard on Maylands Farm at Parawa on the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula has the potential to be a truly distinguished site for Pinot Noir.
TASTING NOTES
2007 was warmer than average vintage at Foggy Hill, accumulating 1249ºC days of heat during the growing season versus the average of 1135ºC days. The January to March ripening period was very dry apart from a rain event in late January. Perfect small bunches of Pinot Noir were hand harvested on the 14th of April and transported to the Petaluma winery in the Piccadilly Valley, about one hour north of Foggy Hill. The three clones were destemmed, crushed and chilled in separate batches to open one tonne fermenting tubs.
Tapanappa Foggy Hill 2007 Pinot Noir is medium to light in colour and cerise in hue. The aromas are delicate and exotically fragrant of Campari, cherries and five-spice with a richer mulberry component. The flavours are delicate sweet and spicy and are balanced against the tannin and acid without the interference of alcohol – it is as though the wine is built around its water component. The tannins are significant, but soft and savoury, and the whole wine is melded into a complex fabric of aromas, flavours, tastes and texture, which is seamless.
OTHER REVIEWS
GREAT pinot noir marches to the tune of a drum utterly different from and more difficult than that of any other variety. Having surmounted the imperatives of site, clone, fermentation, type and length of time in oak, sensitivity to bottling and filtering, post-natal care, pondering on the bouquet and finally taking the wine into your mouth, you still have only a partial idea of the quality. It is not until you assess the length of the palate, the character and structure of the finish and the impact of the aftertaste that you can weigh up a new pinot. So it was with the 2007 Tapanappa Foggy Hill Vineyard Pinot Noir (96 points), with its echoes of high-quality burgundy, generated by the thrust of the back palate, texture of the finish and intensity of the aftertaste. The vintage was a difficult one, and this was the first crop, but it sent shivers down my spine. There are 850 cases. 96 Points, James Halliday, The Weekend Australian May 2008
I must admit, I was skeptical. A $45 pinot noir from the Fleurieu Peninsula - it sounds absurd. OK, so industry leader Brian Croser is behind it and he's unlikely to engage in folly. But all things considered - well, I certainly wasn't expecting what the bottle delivered. This is an interesting wine. It's light in colour and rather light in flavour too, its appearance murky - as good pinot noir often is. In the glass it takes a while to come around, its flavours building as it sits and breathes. It's then a tannic, chalky, charismatic wine, its ripples of sap, stalk, dark cherry and eucalypt kissed neatly by integrated cedary oak. It lacks the finish to demand high points - but given four or five years in the bottle, it may well develop in that area too. I wouldn't put anything past this wine - it seems to have a fair whack of goodies tucked up its sleeve. Drink: 2012-2017. 92 points, Campbell Mattinson, Winefront June 2008
That's right - a pinot from Fleurieu. Mind you, the vineyard sits at 350 metres above sea level and cops a lot of fog. Given the head start that the cool Victorian regions, Tasmania and the Adelaide Hills have with pinot noir, this wine is the product of a daring business decision. The 2007 isn't bad, either. The nose is definitely varietal, but there's a plummy ripeness to it that's fairly plain. The palate is more impressive - structured and earth - but it trails off slightly. We'll watch this site with great interest as the vines age. Lester Jesberg, Winewise June 2008
Nearly all you need to know about this wine is printed on the back and front labels of the bottle; for example, the fruit hails from the Foggy Hill vineyard situated at Parawa, the highest point of the peninsula. How about that the Bernard clones of pinot noir are densely planted in a vineyard littered with 67-million-year-old ironstone and produce a meagre crop of 5 tonnes per hectare. Or that only 850 cases of the wine were made. The most important part is what's inside the bottle. This is magnificent pinot noir made by Brian Croser, who describes his wine (yes, on the label) as "a pure expression of a unique Australian terroir". Judy Sarris, Gourmet Traveller WINE August 2008
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