Maker:
Since 1997, Giant Steps has built a reputation based on expressive wines with purity and finesse out of Yarra Valley. These are wines that reflect individual vineyard sites, located across the Yarra Valley from Tarrawarra to Gladysdale. Giant Steps was founded by wine industry pioneer Phil Sexton, who journeyed from Margaret River to Yarra Valley looking for the ideal site to cultivate pure and finessed Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
Eventually, Phil found his hallowed ground near Gruyere in the Sexton vineyard, which he planted in 1997 on the steep slopes of the Warramate Ranges. The name comes from John Coltrane's album "Giant Steps", which felt like a fitting choice given the steep slopes of the vineyard and Phil's love of jazz. In 2003, Winemaker Steve Flamsteed came aboard, another muso, and the two set about producing a range of iconic Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that express a profound sense of place from six finite sites in Yarra Valley.
Melanie Chester, became Head of Winemaking and Viticulture at Giant Steps in 2021, her long-held admiration for the winery comes with an intrinsic pressure to honour the expressions and diversity of its single sites. Mel, says she is "committed to ensuring that the quality will be the same if not better.” This means keeping the winemaking tight and transparent, so that diversity of site is what you taste. Giant Steps has been advancing Australia’s reputation for cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for the past 20 years, the addition of Mel's craft and energy will ensure this legacy continues.
The proof in the pudding. Giant Steps was awarded 2025 Halliday Winery of the Year and Pinot Noir of the Year. A huge achievement that's been years in the making. Of course Mel takes none of the credit (the best seldom do), instead she props up everyone involved until now, founder Phil Sexton, winemaker Steve Flamsteed, grower Lou Primavera and respected viticulturist Ray Guerin.
Vineyard:
2023 was a small, high-quality vintage in the Yarra Valley. The season was defined by a cool Spring, a mild growing season, cool nights, and medium to high rainfall. 2023 was one of the coolest and latest harvests on record, with their first pick starting two and a half weeks later than the previous average. The grapes in 2023 had lovely fruit concentration with bright natural acidities. Chardonnay from Applejack needs lots of attention to detail in the vineyard, a big emphasis on crop loads and fruit exposure to ensure even ripeness and acid levels.
Applejack Vineyard is a special site, located on a dramatic slope in the upper Yarra Valley and is closely planted and fastidiously managed. It was planted by respected viticulturist Ray Guerin in 1997. The basalt based underlying volcanic soil and rock produce a characteristically fine yet extended, spicy and firm palate. Gladysdale Vineyard's higher altitude (180 - 260m) results in a cooler and extended growing season, ideally suited to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay (3-4 weeks later than central Yarra Valley). This vineyard is a special location for Pinot Noir in the Yarra Valley – its eastern aspect means the sun rises to gently warm and dry out the vineyard in the morning, but the vines are sheltered.
Nose - Perfumed Red Fruit, Turned Earth, Spices
Exotic, aromatic and pure with its bouquet of wild strawberries, dark cherries, quince, spices and flowers.
Palate - Sous Bois, Saturated Wild Berries, Seamless
All exotic red fruits that we love about Pinot, with complex notes of fresh turned earth, miso and mushroom. Densely packed fruits, but light on its feet.
Finish - Dense Fine Tannin, Intense, Textured
The flavours combined with compacted tannins, intense flavour and texture. Super.
2022 was a hard act to follow, but this superb wine gives it a shake. Exotic, aromatic and pure with its bouquet of wild strawberries, dark cherries, quince, spices and flowers. Densely packed, this saturates the palate, but, as always, it's light on its feet at the same time. Seamless tannins round out another benchmark for what's already a benchmark wine. - Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion, 98 Points.
I tasted this wine a few months ago and loved it from the first sip. I have it on the desk now and there it is again, aglimmer in the glass. This wine is no one’s fool. It’s a pure expression of its place in the world and that place happens to be complex. It’s a cool wine with straight trees of tannin, perfumed red and black berries, lines of spice and echoes of woodsmoke. It’s a forest of a wine, a bit lush, a bit wet, a bit woody; verdant. At all times, as you drink it, the fruit comes at you like a swell. When you swallow this wine it flares out like you’ve reached the lookout at the end of a long walk. It’s a good wine. And it’s more than that. - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front, 96 Points.
Pinot Noir of the Year 2025. James Halliday Wine Companion.
