Wine
Dream Vertical Feature Croser Sparkling
In 2025 Croser turns 40, affording us a delicious opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with how good these wines are, and how far Australia has come as home to serious sparkles.
Synonymous with its influence, the heft that the Croser name carries as a contributor to Australian wine cannot be overstated. It all began in the Adelaide Hills in 1974 when Brian Croser, driven by a belief that Australia was capable of producing world-class wines that could rival the finest from Europe, planted a Chardonnay vineyard on the cool, wet slopes of the Piccadilly Valley.
The “Hills”, as the region is now known, was not yet recognised as a premium wine-growing area, and at the time there were few folks that knew what Chardonnay even was, let alone what it tasted like. Risky? Yes. Crazy? As time would prove, not so much.
THE EVOLUTION OF AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING
The vineyard vista from the Petaluma/Croser Cellar Door in Adelaide Hills’ Woodside (Credit: Tash Mohring @ JKTP)
In a move less risky, he also planted Riesling in the Clare, and Cabernet Sauvignon in Coonawarra, and in 1978 launched Petaluma. As we moved into the 1980s the wine market surged, and whilst we were seeing sparkles from Seppelts Great Western, Lindeman’s, and Hardys, there was a general focus on quantity over quality.
With a small handful of exceptions, Australian sparkling was generally sweeter in style, from warmer climates and constructed from a range of varieties usually left over from primary requirements like Semillon, Verdelho, Chenin Blanc, Colombard and Trebbiano.
The missing piece of our sparkling puzzle was the finesse that came with cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, two of three central Champagne varieties, and the complexity that came with Méthode Champenoise (also known as Méthode Traditionnelle).
Commonly referred to as the Traditional Method, this approach requires a second fermentation within the bottle that creates CO2 and a yeasty complexity to the liquid, as the dead yeast cells, after converting the remaining sugar to alcohol, slowly decompose and add a creamy characteristic to the final wine. When constructed with cool climate base material, this time-honoured approach can build wines of exceptional depth, complexity and finesse.
THE INFLUENCE OF CROSER ON AUSTRALIAN SPARKLING
Brian knew all this, and in 1985 released his first Croser sparkling, a vintage fizz from the 1982 harvest. This wine displayed a depth of flavour, complexity, and textural elegance that set it apart from many of its contemporaries, and was amongst the first to seriously challenge the notion that fine sparkling wine could only come from Europe.
With the emergence of Croser as a premium brand through the 1990s and into the early 2000s, the landscape of Australian sparkling wine started to welcome more high-quality, more complex examples. It was no longer just about fizz for mass consumption – there was a burgeoning appreciation for the craftsmanship, complexity and longevity of such sparkling wines.
As the Australian sparkling wine market continues to evolve, the influence of Croser continues to thrive as it maintains its commitment to cool climate viticulture, traditional sparkling wine methods, and a relentless pursuit of quality. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in sparkling wines, and with that we have seen a proliferation of brands and products, both domestic and international, come into the market.
We have seen Prosecco evolve to be a big segment player, we have seen brands and products premiumise, styles change and prices escalate, and we see more SKUs form under most brands in order to take advantage of that growth. What is impressive is that throughout the ebbs and f lows of the wine market, Croser has stayed true to its signature style and identity.
There are only five wines under the brand and each retains the brand DNA, staying relatively consistent in price despite a gradual improvement in quality. In wine, particularly in Australian wine, it’s a beautiful (and rare) thing when a wine icon is left alone to naturally evolve, gracefully, over the decades, to find its natural equilibrium. Croser is one such icon.
IN CONVERSATION WITH ELLA HOBAN, CROSER SENIOR SPARKLING WINEMAKER
Sparkling talent, Senior Sparkling Winemaker Ella Hoban.
The 2011 Croser LD, a wine for the ages.
During its lifespan Croser has had only four winemakers at its helm: Brian was followed by Mike Mudge in 2000, then in 2021 Mike handed the reigns to Teresa Heuzenroeder. The torch is now carried forward by Ella Hoban, Senior Sparkling Winemaker for Accolade Wines. Hoban is a South Australian native from Victor Harbour, and despite aspirations of becoming a surgeon she found herself in Langhorne Creek’s Bleasdale winery on her gap year and the die was cast.
“Looking back, I can see now that wine was always around,” Hoban recalls. “My grandparents were publicans and had an amazing cellar, my mum’s best friend was an importer, dad’s best mate was a viticulturist, and like any classic Catholic family we’d come together every Christmas and drink out of papa’s cellar – it was always pretty important in how my family came together and interacted with each other.”
After vintages in America and Spain, Hoban was back in Australia and found herself gravitating towards sparkling winemaking. After a call from Ed Carr, she became fully immersed in the deep end of Australia’s best sparkling wines, soon forming a much deeper understanding of the craft of sparkling winemaking.
“It’s so fascinating,” she explains. “The intricacy of it all and how you have to play and manipulate all of the tiny little bits along the way. I absolutely love how you have to have a long-term vision of where you want it to end up, and how you get there with what you have got is special.”
THE WINES OF THE TASTING
Croser NV Sparkling
Croser NV Sparkling Rosé
Croser NV Blanc de Blancs
Croser 2019 Vintage Sparkling Piccadilly Valley
Croser 2011 Late Disgorged Piccadilly Valley
A TASTE OF THE CROSER SPARKLING STYLE
To understand the wines in the Croser suite requires an understanding of the style that binds them. Ultimately, the kind of wine that ends up in the bottle is the outcome of every action and decision in the overall process. Each supports the end result, and when it comes to fizz there is little, if any, room for error. “There’s a consistency across the board with Croser,” explains Hoban at a tasting of five Croser stars. “It’s a definite fruit-driven style and it’s almost like a fingerprint, an invisible thread, that ties each of these wines together, vintage by vintage.”
The Croser NV (Pinot Noir Chardonnay) was first made in the 1990s after the success of the 1982 vintage release. It’s a sparkling love letter, with generosity and richness despite it being light on its feet. If you have tasted this wine over the years you would know that it’s always perfumed with peach, nectarines, and strawberries, and has a complexing Fruit Tingle entry that dissipates through the mousse to a fine fig/lemon finish.
That this is still only $30 is incredible. The Croser NV Rosé is a similar construction (Pinot/ Chardonnay) that has seen a little time on Pinot skins to give a very light, rose gold tinge to the colour.
“I think it needs to smell and taste before it needs to look like Rosé,” says Hoban on the lightness of the colour. And it does, with red cherry aromatics highlighting the nose and fine Pinot tannins rounding out the mouthfeel. Again, at $30 it’s a wine that punches two weight classes above its price.
Pouring a flight of late disgorged base wines (Credit: Tash Mohring @ JKTP).
Croser NV Blanc De Blanc has made a recent return to the folio after demand slowed down its production. Difficulty sourcing sufficient quality Chardonnay and the 2020 fires contributed to its pause, but it’s now back and maintains the style and DNA of Croser.
Generous and fruit driven, the wine shows lemon curd and nougat with a little yeasty tinge that f lows through the aromatics to a fine-boned and complex palate spiked with fresh apples, lemons, grapefruits, and a hint of freshly baked biscuit.
We move then into vintage territory with the 2019. The Croser vintage wines are released after three years on lees, are crafted 100% from Piccadilly Valley fruit, and display a greater representation of Pinot in the mix at around 80%.
There’s a decent step up in complexity and length but this does not compromise the overall Croser fruit-driven style. On the nose is a broader spectrum of fruits: cherry, honey, cashew and strawberries, and an elegant, buttery palate filled with earthy and complex wild strawberries, charry cherries mixed with nectarines and white peaches.
The Croser 2011 Late Disgorged (or LD) rounds out the five points of the Croser sparkling star, and after 12 years of quietly sitting on lees was disgorged in 2023. It’s a strikingly fresh and complex wine that has a gloriously creamy mouthfeel, finely layered with fresh and dried apples, preserved lemons and lemon curd, yeast, nuts and caramel.
The nose is beguiling: creamy and lifted with a broad group of aromas that evolve and grow as the wine opens up in the glass. That the 2011 LD, despite its age and complexity, maintains the Croser fingerprint is astounding, and despite being under-priced at under $70 elegantly represents Brian’s legacy.
Beyond that, it shows how high the standard of Australian sparkling wine has lifted in a short time. With passionate talent like Hoban and the development of vineyard resources across the Adelaide Hills, it’s safe to say our sparkling future is bright.