Giant Steps Yarra Valley Pinot Noir 2021

Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2022 

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.

"Stunning, with terrific focus and intensity to the core of Earl Grey tea, firm, juicy cherry, raspberry and white pepper flavors. Notes of clove and green cardamom linger on the finish, with a touch of salted caramel."  Wine Spectator

The Yarra Valley range is made from handpicked fruit from all of Giant Step's estate vineyards - Sexton, Applejack, Primavera, Swallowfield, Wombat Creek and Tarraford Vineyards. The wines are produced using indigenous yeasts, gravity-flow winemaking, and minimal fining and filtration. This approach produces highly expressive wines, true to the regional characteristics of the Yarra Valley.

"2021 began as a challenging vintage in the Yarra Valley due to summer and autumn rains and cooler than average temperatures during the growing season. However this then led to a long slow ripening period which produced thicker skins, riper stems and more concentrated flavors, resulting in Pinot Noir of excellent quality.

100% hand-picked, all fruit is chilled overnight to 12 degrees, cold soaked for 3 days, then allowed to warm in small open fermenters in order to kick start wild fermentation. Parcels were divided into either 100% "destemmed” or "whole bunch”; fermented, pressed, and matured in French oak (10% new, 90% older) for 8 months."  Giant Steps

Expert reviews

"60/40% upper/lower Yarra Valley fruit. Hand picked and open-fermented with 60% whole berries, the remainder whole bunches. A very bright, light–medium crimson red. A gentle waft of fresh raspberries and cranberries, with just the right amount of spice-rack spices. Delicious right out of the gate, this medium-bodied and refreshing wine will age well too. The perfect introduction to modern Yarra pinot. Drink by 2026."  Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion - 96 points and Special Value Wine  ★  

"Stunning, with terrific focus and intensity to the core of Earl Grey tea, firm, juicy cherry, raspberry and white pepper flavors. Notes of clove and green cardamom linger on the finish, with a touch of salted caramel. Drink now through 2034."  Wine Spectator - 94 points and Top 100 Wines of 2022 (#18)

"Hand-picked from the usual assortment of Giant Steps vineyards across the Yarra Valley. Red fruit, spice, a little pepper, something of a blood orange/Campari character too. It's slightly sappy, red cherry and spiced strawberry, again that blood orange flavour and some savoury 'autumnal' character. Tannin has light emery grip, and the finish is juicy/sweet/sour and slightly bitter, offering solid length. Good drink. Better again with a little more time in bottle. Drink: 2023 - 2027."  Gary Walsh, The Wine Front - 93 points

Awards

Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines of 2022 (#18)
Special Value Wine – Halliday Wine Companion  ★ 

About the winery

 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.