2007 Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay Reviews

Chef Emma Reeves gathers friends and family for a relaxed festive feast at Lady Bay Beach.

Shaved summer salad with raspberry vinaigrette, served with 2007 Tapanappa Tiers Vineyard Chardonnay, Adelaide Hills.

Brian Croser is the man who founded pioneering winery, Petaluma, the first in the Adelaide Hills. He is known as Australia's original ?terroirist?

First-class chardonnay from the Piccadilly Valley in South Australia ? as good a demonstration as there is of the quality being achieved in some of the vineyards in Australia chosen for their combination of cool climate and suitable soils. This has white-peach and citrus flavours, a nuttiness that comes from both the chardonnay and the French oak barriques (used for fermentation and ageing) and a beautifully polished, creamy texture. It's elegant, fascinating and can only become more complex. I expect it to become richer, nuttier, less lemony, more honeyed, but also more savoury. If you keep it until 2017, it may look quite cheap, too.

Bright pale green-straw; as expected, an immaculately proportioned and balanced wine with great drive and impeccable line; all the vineyard and winemaker inputs are seamlessly welded, making flavour descriptors unnecessary.