Giant Steps Wombat Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021

Giant Steps is recognized as a global benchmark for cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The winery was established in 1998, one year after founder Phil Sexton arrived in the Yarra Valley in search of ideal sites to produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of purity and finesse. The Giant Steps Single Vineyard range is produced from the most site-expressive fruit off the best vineyards in great years.

"This release is taut, spicy, herbal and sure. Wonderfully savoury and wonderfully good. Fruit pushes through the savouriness without ever taking over. Perfume, this is aflame with it. Tannin, in sheets, inscribed with the finest handwritten flavours. A wonderful wine, pure Upper Yarra, detail and texture, perfume and flavour, mouthwatering red cherry and cranberry fruit with salty, silty tannin and fragrant herbs/flowers wafting over. The power of the light touch."  Campbell Mattinson 

The Wombat Creek Vineyard is located at Gladysdale in the upper Yarra Valley. It was planted in 1988 with the intention of producing base wine for sparkling production but over the years has been gradually transitioned to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir for table wine. At 410 metres, is the highest altitude vineyard in the Yarra Valley, making it an ideal location for the production of extreme cool climate wines. The underlying red, ferrous based volcanic soil and rock produce a distinctively soft yet long and firm palate that contrasts with the finer palates seen from the nearby Applejack Vineyard (basalt based volcanic). The 16 hectare Wombat Creek Vineyard, owned by Hand Picked Wines, is located on a north-east-facing slope and is planted solely with the MV6 clone.

"100% whole bunch. Hand picked in one (very small) parcel, the fruit was chilled then 2% was destemmed in the base of an oak vat to commence a 'Pied de Cuve' ferment. The vat was then filled to the brim with whole bunches and closed up to allow carbonic fermentation to occur. Occasional foot stomps were done to release a little more juice into the ferment and to extend the time on skins. Pressed after two weeks to new and used 228L tight grain French barriques for eight months – 20% new, 80% older. Bottled by gravity with no fining or filtration."  Giant Steps

Expert reviews

"Medium colour, purple-tinted, spicy and vegetal aromas greet the nose, floral and raspberry too, with some vanilla and chocolate notes, the palate light-medium bodied with good intensity and a backbone of fine and taut tannins adding tension to the finish. Dried flowers and dried herbs. Great intensity, focus, depth and complexity and it has the potential to build more with time in the bottle. A pinot of real beauty. (Gladysdale, 420m alt, the highest vineyard in the Yarra Valley, according to Giant Steps. 14 barrels made). Drink: 2022–2033."  Huon Hooke, The Real Review - 96 points

"From the marginal Wombat Creek vineyard, planted around 400m elevation in the early 1980s. All MV6 clone, made in 2021 from 100% whole bunches, inspired mainly by the miniscule 40gm bunches. Matured in French barriques, 20% new. A light bright crimson. Perfumed and lifted with some wild strawberry, musk sticks and dried rose petals. Silky textured the stems are already pretty well integrated into the wine and there's a long, sappy and gently sinewy finish. This has all the components to improve and become more complex in bottle over the next 10 years. Drink by 2032."  Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points

"Aka Giant Wombat. It's worth going to the Giant Steps website just to see the pic of the Wombat Creek Vineyard and how it's quite literally cut out of forest. As a general rule with the Giant Steps single vineyard Pinot Noir "We try to do as much whole bunch as we can get away with. Wombat and Primavera are on red soil. Applejack and Sexton are on grey soil. Wombat (MV6) 2021 is entirely whole bunch/the rest are roughly 50/50.”

This release is taut, spicy, herbal and sure. Wonderfully savoury and wonderfully good. Fruit pushes through the savouriness without ever taking over. Perfume, this is aflame with it. Tannin, in sheets, inscribed with the finest handwritten flavours. A wonderful wine, pure Upper Yarra, detail and texture, perfume and flavour, mouthwatering red cherry and cranberry fruit with salty, silty tannin and fragrant herbs/flowers wafting over. The power of the light touch. Drink: 2024 - 2030+."  Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 95 points

"The Wombat Creek Vineyard is the most southerly in the collection and the highest altitude too, at 400 meters. It was planted in the 1980s as a source for cool-climate, Upper Yarra sparkling base. In the last 10 to 15 years, the site has emerged as one of the more exciting table wine sites in the area. Wild fermented and and made with 100% whole bunch, the 2021 Wombat Creek Vineyard Pinot Noir underwent carbonic maceration for a total of three weeks on skins. On the nose, there are notes of fennel flower, red apple skin, fig, lavender, quince and pork fat, shaped in the mouth by mineral/lead pencil/graphite tannins. This was bottled without fining or filtration. It is bright, sappy and crunchy, with a cavalcade of exotic spice complexity. It actually looked a lot better after an hour or so in the glass, suggesting that if you must drink it early, do the right thing and decant it. Drink: 2022 - 2035."  Erin Larkin, Wine Advocate - 94+ points 

 In 1997 Phil Sexton arrived in the Yarra Valley in search of ideal sites to produce Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of purity and finesse. He was looking for sites with altitude, aged soils, slopes of exposure, regular rainfall and cool to cold nighttime temperatures and a gentle breeze off the protecting mountain ranges. The Giant Steps winery was established one year later in 1998.

The focus is on the production of high-quality, single-vineyard wines. The Giant Steps Single Vineyard range is produced from the most site-expressive fruit off the best vineyards in great years. Each single vineyard wine tells a story about the vineyard, vintage and variety. Production of these wines is very limited with some vineyards producing as little as 200 cases.

The single vineyards comprise the Sexton Vineyard in the Lower Yarra and the Applejack Vineyard in the Upper Yarra (both owned by Giant Steps), the Tarraford Vineyard in the Lower Yarra under long-term lease, the Primavera Vineyard in the Upper Yarra under long-term supervised contract and the Wombat Creek Vineyard owned by Hand Picked Wines. In addition, Giant Steps produce a Yarra Valley range of wines made from handpicked fruit from their estate vineyards. They are highly expressive wines, true to the regional characteristics of the Yarra Valley. 

The Giant Steps wines have received global acclaim and are now recognized as a global benchmark for cool climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Since 2003 Giant Steps wines have been awarded 34 trophies and over 100 gold medals at major international and domestic wine shows and has been named one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World by US Wine & Spirits Magazine for each of the last six years.

Giant Step's success is due in no small part to Steve Flamsteed, Chief Winemaker since 2003. Steve had previously worked for Leeuwin Estate (1999 – 2002) and the Hardy Wine Company at their Yarra Burn Winery in the Yarra Valley (2002 – 2003). Steve was named Gourmet Traveller Wine 'Winemaker of the Year' in 2016. "Steve Flamsteed is a man of many talents with a finely tuned palate, an instinctive flair for winemaking and fastidious attention to detail. This shows particularly in the stunning single-vineyard chardonnays and pinots of Giant Steps: distinctive wines that reflect their sites and glow with impeccable finesse."  Peter Forrestal, chairman of judges, Gourmet Traveller Wine Winemaker of the Year

Melanie Chester joined Giant Steps as Head of Winemaking and Viticulture in 2021. She came to Giant Steps from Sutton Grange Winery in Central Victoria, where she was Head Winemaker. In 2014, Melanie became the youngest ever scholar selected for The Len Evans Tutorial. In 2015, she was named Young Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine, and in 2018, Melanie was recognized by Young Gun of Wine as the People's Choice award winner for favourite winemaker.

Giant Steps was acquired by the Jackson Family in 2020. The Jackson Family own a vast stable of wineries in California (Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Mendocino County, Monterey County, Santa Barbara and Oregon), Australia (Yarra Valley and McLaren Vale), Chile, France, Italy and South Africa.