Giant Steps Yarra Valley, Yarra Valley Chardonnay

Producing a range of Giant Steps wines using fruit blended from across the estate vineyards has been a topic of discussion for many years. These wines were born from a desire to produce a Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of Giant Steps quality, which are expressive of the regional characteristics of the Yarra Valley rather than a single site. Fruit for this wine is sourced from the Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack and Wombat Creek vineyards.

2022 was a high-quality but low-yielding vintage in the Yarra Valley. A very cool, wet, stormy spring resulted in challenging conditions around flowering, creating a very poor fruit set. The season dried out into December, with a dry and warm Christmas period. The following mild summer meant long, slow ripening and flavour concentration, with some well-placed rain in January refreshing the vineyards at just the right time. The strong canopies and low fruit load meant that there was very little disease at harvest, and fortunately, there was no weather pressure that affected picking decisions. The grapes from 2022 came off the vine with lovely concentration and great natural acidity.

Wines from the Yarra Valley range are produced using indigenous yeasts, gravity-flow winemaking and minimal fining and filtration. All the fruit is 100% hand picked and fermented in 500 litre French oak puncheons, of which 15% are new and 85% older oak. 10% of the blend underwent malolactic conversion, and no lees stirring took place. The wine was then aged for eight months in 15% new and 85% used French puncheons.