Feel the weight of the Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard 2019 releases

Brian Croser’s Whalebone Vineyard wines have never been shy. Even fifteen years ago, these ‘Wrattonbully via Right Bank Bordeaux’- leaning reds were bold, drying, made for ageing, and potent. These are wines to admire, sourced from a charismatic old vineyard on the ancient dunes of Wrattonbully, proudly formed in a grandiose mode.

Yet these 2019 releases are even more dramatic than usual.

Brian has already released the 2020 wines and kept these 2019 releases back, calling them ‘archetypal Whalebone Vineyard expressions’ with next-level ageing quality. Indeed, Croser thinks these will retain their purple edge and freshness for at least 20 years.

Yeah, they’ll get to twenty, and live as long as the expensive corks will hold out for.

The only question is whether they’re delicious rather than just ageworthy. Let’s take a look.

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Merlot Cabernet Franc 2019

A blend of 55% Merlot and 45% Cabernet Franc, which is standard fare for Bordeaux but an outlier blend in South Australia. 470 dozen produced. Spends 18 months in 50% new and 50% single-use oak, which has a lot of dominant barrel character. Hard to miss the oak, or this wine – it’s black and coffeed with thick dried fruit, caramel oak and warm alcohol. Full-bodied, dark and inky; this is a wine of winemaking as much as fruit, of big impact and tannins and width. But ultimately, it’s a bit overdone – a wine that hits you around the face, with a warm, slightly desiccated, oak and fruit tannins-shaped finish that has you looking for a glass of water and a lie-down.

Best drinking: no hurry, it will live forever. But may never be seductive. 17.5/20, 91/100. 14.4%, $90

Tapanappa Whalebone Vineyard Cabernet Shiraz 2019

Same winemaking as the Merlot blend, but this wine soaks up the oak perfectly. It’s dark and oak framed, but the core of dark berry minty impact is bold enough to take out. It’s brooding, chocolatey, tannic, and somehow more lively and fresher than the Merlot Cab. I closed my eyes and picked it up as a three-year-old, not five. Black fruit, dark berries, a little cedar, with these sticky, long tannins. If anything, this Cabernet Shiraz gives off Coonawarra vibes, and it feels regal, if a bit closed and grumpy for drinking right now. I will never understand why this wine is 2/3rds the price of the Merlot Cab, with the latter feeling like it’s trying too hard, compared to this Cabernet Shiraz blend, which just feels right (although especially uncompromising in this 2019 release).

Best drinking: wait at least five years, then drink over twenty plus. 18/20, 93/100+. 14%, $60.