2021 Tapanappa Whalebone Cabernets Merlot Franc, Wrattonbully

A blend of 53.5/16/16/14.5% cabernet sauvignon/merlot/cabernet franc/shiraz. Matured in 50% new French barriques for 18 months. A wine that is as vivid as the imagery of the whale skeleton found buried beneath the vineyard. Fresh figs, boysenberry and Chinese bayberry. Tea, rose bud, goji and pomegranate molasses. There is a heart of red fruit with surrounding coffee and mocha spice. The palate is a weaving thread of silky tannins; Brian Croser has such talent for texture and expansion of a wine's length and dimension. A wine that reverberates throughout your whole body. Drink 2024-2035.

96 points Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, June 2025

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. Drink 2025-2037.

95 points Ray Jordan for Wine Pilot, June 2025

The Whalebone Vineyard was planted in 1972 on a north-south limestone ridge in Wrattonbully — one of the oldest and most significant vineyards on the Limestone Coast. Brian Croser has spoken of it with open admiration, and the wines it produces across half a century of vintages have consistently justified that feeling. Directly across the road sits the Crayères Vineyard of Terre à Terre, planted by his daughter Lucy and son-in-law Xavier Bizot — a detail that says something about what this particular ridge is capable of.

Wrattonbully remains one of Australia's most underappreciated fine wine regions. The terra rossa over ancient limestone gives the reds a structural precision and mineral depth that set them apart from warmer South Australian regions. The climate runs close to Bordeaux in its seasonal patterns, and the Whalebone Vineyard, with its age and shallow soils, draws every advantage from both.

The 2021 blend is Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz — each variety vinified separately and matured for 18 months in French oak barriques, half new, before blending. Brian called 2021 a model vintage for the region, and the wine reflects it. Deep garnet, the nose is complex and composed — cassis, blood plum, rose petal, dried herbs, cedar and a thread of graphite. The palate has mid-weight elegance with fine-grained, persistent tannins, excellent length and a freshness that suggests many years ahead of it. A wine of real presence and quiet authority.

Slow-roasted lamb, a good aged hard cheese or a simple but well-sourced beef fillet. The wine’s savory notes also complement dishes like Korean braised short ribs and mushroom-based stews. Worth opening now with a long decant, or cellaring with confidence for another decade.

Drink now through 2038.