Besides the obvious wine quality, what I always like about the new vintage release of the latest Tapanappa wines is the commentary from Brian Croser. Come for the Chardonnay, stay for the weather reports (just check out the proper detail here. Please wine producers, give us this much info).

Brian is pretty excited about the 2021 whites too (he calls the vintage “near perfect”), and the quality of this Tapanappa Piccadilly Chardonnay 2021 is hard to ignore.

Unmistakable nose. Maybe it plays to my prejudices (how good is non-anaemic Chardonnay), but I love the way this smells. Lemon butter, oatmeal, white peach. Finesse and yet luxurious ripe flavour. Gee this feels refined this vintage. Sexy oak, a full and ripe style yet never hot. Indeed it’s still cool and refreshing, full-flavoured Chardonnay. Maybe a little dense and mealy to finish. Still, this feels like what Chardonnay is meant to taste like – not pulling away from being full or ripe, just a whole lot of admirably contained flavour.

It’s just a smidgen chunky on the aftertaste, but hey, I’m not complaining – this is, after all, the entry point to the range. I can’t wait to try the other ’21 releases now.

Tapanappa Piccadilly Chardonnay 2021. Best drinking: good now, and history shows this will still be very healthy in five years if you want to wait. 18/20, 93/100. 14%, $45. Tapanappa website. Would I buy it? Yes.