Giant Steps Yarra Valley, Yarra Valley Pinot Noir

Fruit for this wine is sourced from estate vineyards across the Yarra Valley, with 50% of the fruit sourced from the Upper Yarra ranges.

The 2023 vintage was a small, high-quality vintage in the Yarra Valley. The season was defined by cool and wet conditions throughout the entire growing season. Spring saw record volumes of rain from September until December. The frequent downpours elevated disease pressure but also made access to the vineyards an arduous task from waterlogged earth. A small stretch of warmer conditions dried out the vineyards, followed by well timed rainfall rolling into summer. Fortunately the sun appeared in the critical weeks of flowering, allowing a healthy berry set and abundant pristine fruit. 2023 was one of the coolest and latest harvests on record, with the first pick starting two and a half weeks later than the previous average. Despite the challenges, the fruit in 2023 had excellent concentration and bright acidity. The 2023 wines of Giant Steps are light and expressive, with varietal typicity shining through.

All Giant Steps fruit is 100% hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard. Pinot Noir is handled in one of two ways at Giant Steps; it is either fermented semi carbonic with 100% whole bunch or destemmed and fermented with whole berries. The whole bunch batches are fermented warm with minimal mixing for 14 days. The destemmed whole berry parcels are cold soaked for 3 days before they are allowed to warm up and start fermentation naturally. All cap management is done using gravity drain and returns, allowing for gentle extraction before pressing. Each parcel is then transferred by gravity to French oak barriques for malolactic fermentation and is kept on lees for the duration of its maturation. Parcels are matured in French oak (10% new, 90% older) for eight months. This wine is then blended in October and bottled by gravity without fining or filtration in November.