Brian Croser has entered the race to secure mature vineyard fruit from premium Western Australian wine regions and has thrown down the gauntlet to the newly-emergent Pemberton-Manjimup region in the state’s south-west. With Petaluma’s 51% purchase of Smithbrook, the region’s third-largest vineyard, Croser is set to challenge the entrenched local wisdom that Pemberton is destined to become a specialist grower of chardonnay and pinot noir. Croser will install a chilled juice and must processing plant at Smithbrook and will use the 1998 vintage as trial to see which varieties perform best. He half expects the later varieties of cabernet sauvignon, merlot and shiraz to win out. Petaluma’s purchase values Smithbrook’s vineyard and surrounding land on its 107 ha property at $4.5 million. It retains an option to increase its ownership to 70% and Croser does not rule out the possibility of owning the vineyard outright.
