Australian wine producer Brian Croser is pioneering Pinot Noir in South Australia – to add to the highly-regarded Tapanappa range.
Croser, a Decanter Man of the Year and one of the most influential men in the Australian wine industry, has four hectares of Pinot at a place called Yankallilla on the Fleurieu peninsula south of Adelaide.
The land is ‘like Sonoma’, export manager Xavier Bizot told decanter.com. ‘Cool, quite windy, and perfect for Pinot. Brian is very enthusiastic about it.’
The vines – three different Burgundy clones – are now around four years old. The first harvest was earlier this year.
Croser is experimenting with different types of crush for different batches: whole-bunch pressing, full crush etc.
Yankallilla is where Croser keeps a beach house. ‘Brian is well-known down there. They call it Cape Croser,’ Bizot said. ‘Yankallilla actually means “Place of bad smells” in the local aboriginal dialect, because of all the whales there.‘
The Pinot will be sold in high-end restaurants worldwide alongside the rest of the Tapanappa range: a Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Shiraz, all of which retail in the UK at around £30.
Written by Adam Lechmere
