Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2023

The focus at Giant Steps is on the production of high-quality, single-vineyard wines. However, they also produce a gorgeous Chardonnay sourced from vineyards across the Yarra Valley (an even split of upper and lower Yarra fruit), with the majority coming from their Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack and Wombat Creek vineyards. The 2023 Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay was whole-bunched pressed and wild fermented in 15% new French puncheons.

"A very bright green gold. Attractive scents of ripe white pears and nectarines, lemon curd and just the right amount of flint. Packs a punch on the saline, gently textured, gently chewy palate. Great stuff and the perfect entrée to the year's superb lineup of single-vineyard chardonnays."  Philip Rich

Expert reviews

"An even split of upper and lower Yarra fruit. Whole-bunch pressed and wild fermented in 15% new French puncheons. Around 25% mlf. A very bright green gold. Attractive scents of ripe white pears and nectarines, lemon curd and just the right amount of flint. Packs a punch on the saline, gently textured, gently chewy palate. Great stuff and the perfect entrée to the year's superb lineup of single-vineyard chardonnays. Drink by 2030."  Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion - 95 points and Special Value Wine  ★  

"Honeycrisp apple skin, lemon zest and green plum. Winter melon and starfruit. Plumes of talc powder, pomice and honeysuckle. Plenty of white delicate florals and a blush of nectarine. Intoxicating acidity and a kefir creaminess on the finish. A spray of saline and oak appears in its round shapes rather than toasty notes. Alive with energy and creeping unsuspecting power. Drinking well now and will cellar 3-5 years, a great wine for the bite of calamari or richness of abalone. Drink: 2024-2029."  Shanteh Wale, Wine Pilot – 95 points

Awards

Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

About the wine

The following article by Jancis Robinson appeared in jancisrobinson.com in June 2023

A fine alternative to white burgundy that shouldn't be too difficult to find.

I don’t think I have ever chosen a wine of the week that is so well distributed, which was a real surprise because when I tasted both the 2021 and 2022 before researching availability, I was struck by how non mass-market they seemed. Hats off to Phil Sexton’s operation, acquired by Jackson Family Wines in 2020, for managing to combine quality and quantity.

Here’s a wine that would deliver something pretty close to the white burgundy experience for a fraction of the price of a white burgundy. The Yarra Valley, outside Australia’s food-and-drink capital Melbourne, has long been proud of its Chardonnays (and Pinot Noirs). I was at a festival devoted to Yarra Valley Chardonnay back in 2019 and as a result wrote 'All change in the Yarra'.

These two vintages are, respectively, the last made by talented winemaker Steve Flamsteed and the first by his successor Melanie Chester, pictured above, who describes the winemaking involved as 'embarrassingly simple'. All the fruit, which comes from various vineyards all over the valley, at least half from the higher Yarra ranges, and many of them good enough to provide fruit for Giant Steps’ range of single-vineyard Chardonnay bottlings, is hand-picked.

It’s cooled overnight and then whole-bunch pressed, slowly and cool, the next day before being put into barrel that same day with full solids. Spontaneous fermentation in puncheons (15% new) follows, with a little SO₂ added after about seven days, 'but our house style is not that reductive', according to Chester. Only about 10% of the wine is allowed to go through malolactic conversion and the wine is blended and bottled in October, seven months after the last grape was picked.

The weather in 2021 was cooler and wetter than usual, which encouraged slow ripening and yielded quite a generous crop. The yield in 2022 was much lower thanks to a difficult flowering in stormy weather. A dry December further reduced quantities and reduced average bunch weights by up to 40% of the usual. According to Chester’s notes, 'the mild summer meant long, slow ripening and flavour concentration throughout summer, with some well-placed rain in January refreshing the vineyards at just the right time. The strong canopies and low fruit load meant we sailed neatly into picking with very little disease or weather pressure affecting our picking decisions. The grapes from 2022 came off the vine with lovely concentration and flavour and great natural acidity.'

The wines are just 12.5% alcohol but are packed with delicate fruit, refreshing acidity and, like all Giant Steps wines, are characterised by extremely long finishes. The 2022 vintage is screwcapped as usual but the first to be bottled in a lightweight bottle – weighing just 1,286 g full (the 2021 weight is 1,334 g) and it looks quite smart. Nothing cheapskate about this.

Although the 2021 is obviously 12 months older than the 2022, I thought the wines were at very similar stages of evolution, both of them delicious to drink now but with another four or five years’ development ahead of them (a pretty good prospect for this price level). I tasted both within days of tasting Giant Steps’ single-vineyard Chardonnays and, while I think the latter will have a longer life than these less expensive blends, the regular Yarra Valley Chardonnays seem absolutely brilliant value to me.

Chester, incidentally, was last year made the first female and youngest chief judge of the Melbourne Royal Wine Awards, the show at which the influential Jimmy Watson Trophy is awarded, succeeding Matt Harrop of Curly Flat. Her mentor, she told me over a recent lunch in London, has been Tom Carson of Yabby Lake.

I should stress that both Sexton and Flamsteed are still very much around, in line with JFW’s policy of leaving the founders of the wineries they acquire in place whenever possible.

Go find these highly recommended wines. 

Melanie Chester

Winemaker Melanie Chester at work in the Giant Steps winery

Mel Chester didn’t want to be a winemaker, even though she grew up in a wine family. Her great-grandfather started importing American oak to make wine barrels in South Australia in the 1930s: his first customer was Penfolds.

Wine was always on the Chester dining table in Adelaide, being enjoyed and talked about. But, like most teenagers, young Mel rebelled. "Dad was like, you’ll be a winemaker one day," says Chester, smiling. "And I was like, piss off, Dad, you don’t know me."

Then, when she was 17 her father suggested she could earn some cash working in a winery down in McLaren Vale during vintage. "And I was like, righto, but I’m not going to become a winemaker, so back off." She was, of course, hooked from day one. "Loved it. Moved out of home. Didn’t have a driver’s licence. Hitched lifts to work. So much fun."

She studied Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Adelaide, where she was the recipient of both the Wolf Blass Prize for Excellence in Winemaking (2011) and the David Bradley Memorial Prize (2012). It was clear this girl was going to go far. In 2014, Melanie became the youngest ever scholar selected for The Len Evans Tutorial.

In 2015, after three years in a senior role at Seppelt’s Great Western winery in Victoria, the then 26-year-old was offered the role of winemaker-manager at Sutton Grange, a vineyard in the high country south of Bendigo. 

Moving to Sutton Grange presented the "right kind of challenge and change" for Chester, as she could be more hands on at a boutique winery. "Up until that point I had spent a good chunk of my career working with Treasury Wine Estates, which was a fantastic ground base for me in terms of learning and exposure to amazing vineyards and incredible winemakers … I was ready to work in a different sized business structure and really missed being a bit more hands on."

Within months she was named Young Winemaker of the Year by Gourmet Traveller Wine magazine. In 2018, she was named people’s choice at the Young Gun of Wine awards.

In 2021, after six years as Head Winemaker at Sutton Grange, Chester joined Giant Steps as Head of Winemaking and Viticulture. "It’s bittersweet to be moving on, but this is such a great opportunity." In addition to her duties at Giant steps, Melanie is a sought-after wine judge and currently is the Chair of Judges at the prestigious Melbourne Royal Wine Awards, the home of the Jimmy Watson trophy.

The following text is taken from an article by Mark Hedley that appeared in Square Mile

Melanie Chester was born for her job. Her family business was importing barrels, and she realised from a relatively young age that the wine industry was for her.

She studied Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Adelaide, where she was the recipient of both the Wolf Blass Prize for Excellence in Winemaking (2011) and the David Bradley Memorial Prize (2012). It was clear this girl was going to go far.

She began to build up her experience working across a number of estates in Australia spanning Central Victoria, the Grampians, McLaren Vale, and Barossa, as well as a stint at Quinta do Crasto in Portugal’s Douro Valley.

Awards – and award-winning wines – came thick and fast.

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.

Her love affair with Giant Steps started long before she became Head of Winemaking and Viticulture in 2021, collecting the wines for her personal cellar for many years.

Now general manager of the prestigious Yarra Valley winery, she talks us through her journey in wine.

What was your first experience of wine?

Wine was always a part of our dinner table at home, but my family business was importing barrels, so my earliest memory of the industry was as a school child, on the docks of the Adelaide Port. We had just brought in a container of barrels from France and I can still remember the toasty and rich oak smell of opening that container.

What was the first wine you tasted which really caught your attention?

I was in my late teens, and my uncle, who was an avid collector, opened some iconic Aussie wines around the family Christmas table. That afternoon I tried a 1992 Giaconda Pinot Noir, a 1992 Mount Mary Quintet and a 1994 Henschke Hill of Grace. These wines I can still remember when I think back on them. They were a lighting strike through my brain and it hasn't rewired itself since.

When did you decide 'I want to make wine!'?

After my first harvest as an intern – I loved the energy of the cellar, the smells, and the transformation.

Where and when was the first wine you made? And was it any good?

I studied at the University of Adelaide and you make a "project" wine in third year. I made a very yucky small-batch white wine. But you have to start somewhere!

What’s the most important lesson you’ve learnt in your career?

Hard work, dedication and not cutting corners are the foundation for making great wine.

What’s your favourite memory from your career so far?

While people would assume it’s winning trophies or travelling to exotic places, for me it’s remembering those days in vintage where it's all just working. We nailed the picking date on something, the juice tastes great, the team are smashing it and the energy is positive, excited and collaborative. Those are the days I do it for.

Which has been your favourite vintage over the last few years – and why?

2022 was my first vintage at Giant Steps so that was a thrill, but the 2023 vintage, cool and mild, has produced some pretty amazing wines of purity. While those vintages are stressful as you're waiting for stuff to ripen, they often deliver incredible quality.

Who is your winemaking hero – and why?

I have a few. Of course, Lalou Bize-Leroy! But closer to home, my mentor and great friend Tom Carson, from Yabby Lake. He’s practical, thoughtful, generous with his time and knowledge, and has a real love of our Aussie wine industry.

If you could only drink one grape for the rest of your life, what would you choose and why?

Pinot noir – it’s the most complex and fascinating variety. I would never get bored as there is so much site discovery and expression to enjoy.

What’s your death-row bottle from your own line-up?

Applejack Pinot Noir.

And from another winemaker?

Ooooooh, very hard – either 1989 Chateau Rayas, 2012 Raveneau Les Clos or a 2015 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Romanee-Saint-Vivant!

About the winery