Country: Australia
Region: Yarra Valley
Vintage: 2024
Variety: Chardonnay
Alcohol volume: 12.8%
Closure: Screwcap

Palate
Great flavour, bright acidity and balance.

Vinification
At Giant Steps, we hand pick 100% of our fruit and fastidiously hand sorted in the vineyard . The grapes are then transported to the winery and put into the cold room over night to cool down to 4 deg C before pressing the day following. Chardonnay is always whole bunch pressed either directly to barrel or pressed to tank before immediate transfer to barrel with full solids. The wine is wild fermented in French oak puncheons, 15% of which is new while the balance is seasoned. We allow the ferments to get warm, and stir ferments daily to encourage fermentation and build texture. The level of malolactic fermentation (MLF) is dependant on season. In 2024 10% of the barrels went through MLF. Post fermentation, we sulphur and then hold the barrels in a reductive environment on full lees with no stirring until blending and bottling in November.

Vintage notes
The 2024 vintage is a more classic Yarra season. A cool start to spring and ideal flowering conditions lead to good fruit set and moderate yields. December was cool and mild, with significan rainfall at New Years and during the first week of January giving the vines a good drink leading into the heat of February. Mid to late February was drier and warmer than is common in the Yarra, leading to great ripening conditions with no disease pressure and a quite fast vintage. In 2024, all of our Pinot and Chardonnay was ready in quick succession, leading to a compressed harvest - with the whole valley picked in the space of 3 weeks (where it normally spreads across 6 weeks).

Philip Rich
95 Points
An even split of upper and lower Yarra fruit; both estate grown and from growers. Less mlf than last year. Smells fleshy with aromas of stone fruits, together with a little pink grapefruit and light citrus notes. It's both approachable and gentle, even as a young wine, but the balance for drinking now or cellaring in the short to medium term is absolutely spot on.

Campbell Mattinson
93 Points
I’d sit down and hook into this in a heartbeat. It’s a chardonnay with drinkability written all over it. Stonefruit, tonic water, lemon sherbet, musk and smoky bacon notes come drenched in nashi pear and cream. It’s dry, lively, well-fruited and flavoursome, but the finish has that slightly briny, slightly grapefruit-y edge that makes you want more. Yes please to this one. 93+