2021 Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernets Merlot Franc

95 POINTS

Ray Jordan - Winepilot

This wine is a product of a very cool vintage in Wrattonbully, which in many ways suits the style of wines that Brian Croser is making. It’s a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, which makes up more than half the blend, with contributions from Merlot, Cabernet Franc, and Shiraz. It has a delicious aroma, displaying bright red fruits with deeper mulberry and some nice blackcurrant characters, and just a touch of glazed cherry. The structure retains a firmness, but the tannins are fine and chalky, and the flesh wraps neatly around it. Lovely, sweet fruit and a fine, fine-grained tannin finish. This is a super elegant wine, stylish and most polished.

95 POINTS

Jeni Port - Winepilot

For those with long memories, the rise of the Wrattonbully wine region will come as a sweet postscript to one of the biggest legal battles over regional boundaries ever fought in this country concentrating on Coonawarra. At the centre of that battle was Brian Croser. It is poetic justice that saw him buy a vineyard on land that ceased to be Coonawarra as a result of the court case and became the Wrattonbully wine region. Together, Whalebone Vineyard and Wrattonbully show their star quality in a top, cool vintage like 2021. The four-way blend led by Cabernet Sauvignon (53.5%) with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz offers a smart, classic Cabernet-led style, one that is less about bells and whistles winemaking and just solid, well grown, old vine fruit and restrained winemaking. The scent is hedonistic with a fragrance rich in blackberry, jalapeño, dried herbs, cocoa, chocolate pan forte and pencil lead notes. There is a delicious juiciness to be enjoyed on the palate amid a generous meshing of earth, liquorice, black fruits, chocolate and woody spices delivered tight and firm in structure with fine Cabernet tannins in control and a bright acidity freshness. That touch of herbal lift to close is a lovely, memorable and fitting conclusion. Will age leisurely, beautifully.

94 POINTS

Ken Gargett - Winepilot

2021 was a cracking vintage in the Wrattonbully region – the home of this famous vineyard. The blend is 53.5% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Merlot, 16% Cabernet Franc and 14.5% Shiraz. Each variety was treated discreetly, seeing eighteen months maturation in French oak barriques, half of which were new, before blending. Under cork, 2,000 cases were made. A dark blood red colour, the nose offers a range of aromas with dried herbs, delicatessen meats, cherries and a character which is a little like raspberry jam on toast. The oak is beautifully integrated with just a flick still evident. There are fine tannins, plenty of them but they simply melt. Attractively balanced, there is very good length and pleasing freshness. A delicious red, certain to drink impressively for the next ten to fifteen years.

Gary Walsh - The Wine Front

Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz in descending order. I can’t fathom why it’s called Cabernets Merlot Franc, unless Cabernets as a plural is some other term for Cabernet Sauvignon. I’m a simple man. The first sample bottle was corked, so they sent another. Blackberry, raisin, a camphor and black tea perfume, some exotic spice. It’s a big wine, dried fruit, figs in particular, mint and coffee, a silty feel to tannin, quite grainy, some chicory bitterness, warmish alcohol with a sooty and dry tea leaf finish of some length. A dried cranberry and menthol character too. Feels a bit chunky and clumsy to me, overtly minty, and lacks tension and finesse. It does have presence though, so there is that. I usually like this producer, though this feels like a miss for me, and I can’t get behind it.