Product Profile
Tapanappa 'Whalebone Vineyard' Merlot 2006
Medium-Full Bodied, Dry, Red, Merlot, Drink now or cellar, 14.3% alc.
Tasting Notes
The Whalebone Vineyard terroir exerts its strength across all four of the varieties grown there and Merlot develops the smokey Eucalyptus, anise and fresh earth aromas and flavours that are the signature of this distinguished site.
The Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2006 Merlot has the ripe plum and exotic spice of Merlot from the warm 2006 vintage. The very sweet fruit middle palate is matched by a significant bulk of tannin providing a fine grained and savoury finish. 2006 is a vintage defined by its tannins.
This is a rich and ripe wine, which will best accompany dishes based on braised ox cheeks or slow cooked veal shanks.
Nick Stock, Good Wine Guide 2011 Merlot of the Year
"I notice that this review was in last year’s edition of the Big Red Wine Book – but didn’t make it to the site. An oversight. Not sure who wrote this one – Mr Walsh or myself. In any case I re-tasted this wine late last year and thoroughly enjoyed it the second time around too. Nothing soft and slurpable here – this is serious merlot. There’s a trace of the dreaded eucalyptus running through it, but its overall quality is superb. It’s ripped with tannin and deep, plummy fruit flavour. There’s a hit of cedary oak and earthen, smoky notes too. Forget the descriptors: it’s grippy and bold and beautiful." 94 Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
Producer
Tapanappa
Tapanappa winery is named after a 550 million year old geological formation that underlies the Fleurieu Peninsula where the Croser family have a sheep farm and vineyard. Tapanappa combines “old vines, new terroirs, experienced winemaking and energetic skilled young management.” Brian Croser founded Petaluma with his wife Ann in 1976, and in 1978 they pioneered the development of the modern Adelaide Hills viticultural region. At Petaluma, Brian developed his “distinguished site” philosophy, discovering unique sites in the Piccadilly Valley and Mt Barker in the Adelaide Hills, and in the Clare Valley and Coonawarra. Brian remains committed to the development of new cool climate “distinguished sites” for specific varieties, his latest pioneering planting being the Pinot Noir at Foggy Hill Vineyard, Parawa on the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula.