With a former director of Champagne Bollinger as his father and Brian Croser as his
father-in-law, it’s little wonder Xavier Bizot ended up making spectacular sparkling wine.
Xavier Bizot’s first foray as a vigneron began in 2004 when he and wife Lucy Croser planted an 8ha vineyard on the Limestone Coast. But it was a glass of bubbly he raised at Christmas drinks in 2008, made by his father-in-law Brian Croser (AO), that set him on a path.
“We were tasting a very good blanc de blancs that Brian made in 1987,” he recalls. “I really loved it and said, why don’t we start making a sparkling?”
The following year they tiraged their first blanc de blancs from their own Bizot Vineyard in the Piccadilly Valley, a site planted by Bizot’s father in 1995. Aged on lees for four years, the wine debuted in 2012. They named it Daosa and it has gone on to become one of Australia’s most sought-after sparkling wines.
The fact that Bizot wound up making sparkling wine should come as no surprise. His father was the late Christian Bizot, fifth-generation director of Champagne Bollinger from 1978-1994; meanwhile father-in-law Croser was a pioneer and master of Adelaide Hills sparkling at his eponymous label.
Shortly after Bizot’s marriage to Lucy in 2003, the pair left Paris where Bizot had been working as a lawyer to settle in South Australia. The dream was to start their own wine business, a separate entity from Tapanappa, which they had begun managing for Lucy’s parents and do still.
“We were tasting a very good blanc de blancs that Brian made in 1987,” he recalls. “I really loved it and said, why don’t we start making a sparkling?”
First they set about establishing an import and distribution business – Terroir Selections – representing renowned, family-owned estates such as Marcel Deiss (Alsace), Pascal Cotat (Sancerre) and Ceretto (Piedmont). Bizot took up studies in viticulture and winemaking, while implementing the blueprint for their first plantings of sauvignon blanc and cabernet at Wrattonbully. They called the vineyard Crayères, after the magnificent 35-million-year-old limestone cave they discovered while preparing to plant.
Bizot explains: “We planted the vineyard in 2004, originally for Tapanappa, but they were not able to take all the fruit.” They decided to use the excess to make their own wine.
“That’s how we started Terre à Terre. It was a thing that evolved naturally.”
In a land touted for its long-lived red wines, the planting of sauvignon blanc might have raised eyebrows, especially going to the expense of the close-planting the vines, which required specialist farming equipment to be brought over from France. But as the importer for the cultish Pascal Cotat, Bizot knew exactly what he was doing. He had spent time in Sancerre and developed an understanding of how this wine might be interpreted in the other hemisphere.
He describes his tried and tested style as being “really age-worthy, halfway between riesling and chardonnay in terms of aromatics and texture, respectively”.
By 2009, their first cabernet sauvignon came on stream, followed in 2014 by shiraz and cabernet franc. Rather than make single varietal expressions, a safer commercial bet at the time, Bizot took inspiration from the Coonawarra blends of the 1960s and ’70s.
“No one in the world can blend cabernet shiraz as we do in Australia,” he says. “Some of the best wines I have tasted from Australia are from those years.” Note, for instance, his superb rendering of cabernet franc and its sleek beauty. “It’s a great variety, it just needs a little shiraz.”
All the vineyards that inform their multitude of styles and blends are managed by Bizot and his viticultural team, control of production being vital for the highest quality and consistency. He’s emphatic about the methodical management that underpins this impressive body of work.
This coming vintage marks 19 years since Crayères was first planted and in that time, he and Lucy have raised four boys. “We grew old with the vineyard,” he says. As for the Daosa, there are now 26 different blocks of chardonnay, pinot and meunier that contribute to its production and the range includes a second sparkling, Natural Reserve. But despite their increased resources, they are still unable to keep up with demand. “It’s been selling out each year, it’s crazy.” No doubt his father would be very proud.
FACTS AND FIGURES
REGION | Adelaide Hills, SA
YEARS IN INDUSTRY | 18
ANNUAL CRUSH | 150 tonnes
STAND-OUT WINES | 2018 Terre à Terre Crayères Vineyard Reserve
PHOTOGRAPHY by Cameron Clarke.