Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot / Cabernet Franc, Wrattonbully, South Australia

Tapanappa is a dream of one of the World’s most highly talented viticulturalists and winemakers, Brian Croser and produces a small quantity of fine wine each year. Brian’s mission was to maximise the quality of Australian wine in three specific vineyard sites:

The Whalebone Vineyard in Wrattonbully produces perfectly structured complex reds of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. In late 2002 Tapanappa assumed control of the 27 year-old Koppamurra Vineyard in Wrattonbully just north of Coonawarra. The vineyard was renamed as the Whalebone Vineyard. The foliage of the old vines was retrained into a vertical canopy and the crop level was reduced to a meagre 3 tonnes/hectare. The deep-rooted old vines of the Whalebone Vineyard rely on the natural rainfall and the moisture reserves in the marly clay of the Terra Rossa soil and the deep porous limestone upon which it is formed.

The wine is a blend of 60% Merlot and 40% Cabernet Franc from the Whalebone Vineyard.Tappanappa means “stick to the path”.