Country: Australia  Region: Victoria  Vintage: 2017 Category: Red Wine  Color:  Red Producer: Giant Steps The season saw lovely winter rains and a wonderful spring which resulted in a good even fruit set. This was followed by ideal summer growing conditions, with an average January temperature of 27.5°C. Some welcome rain arrived in mid-February that refreshed the vines. With good yields matched with pristine fruit quality, the 2015 vintage will prove to be their best vintage yet. It will be exciting to see the progression of these wines over the coming 12 months and beyond. PRODUCER Giant Steps is a privately owned, estate based, Yarra Valley grower and winemaker that has forged a reputation for delivering some of Australia’s most consistent, over-performing, single vineyard varietal wines. The new Yarra Valley range of wines is made from hand-picked fruit from the estate vineyards. Producing a range of Giant Steps wines using fruit blended from across the estate has been many years in discussion. 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. VINEYARDS Producing a range of Giant Steps wines using fruit blended from across our estate vineyards has been many years in discussion. 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 estate vineyards: Tarraford, Sexton, Applejack. VINIFICATION The Yarra Valley wines are produced using a natural winemaking philosophy, whilst ensuring quality is the priority. Vinification took place using indigenous yeasts, gravity-flow winemaking and minimal fining and filtration. This approach produces highly expressive wines, true to the climate, soil and topography of the Yarra Valley. The fruit is 100% hand-picked and then fermented in 4000 litre open oak vats. Rack and return takes place by gravity and some light hand plunges are carried out. The wine undergoes 100% malolactic fermentation and is then aged for 11 months in new and used French puncheons, of which 25% are new and 75% older oak. The wine is then bottled without filtration. TASTING NOTES This wine is very much a sum of its parts, with perfumed cherry characters coming from the Sexton Vineyard, Campari notes from Applejack and Tarraford's mocha and cocoa earthiness shining through. It has vibrant red and blue fruits but a lovely underlying earthiness, with white mushrooms, truffles, savoury spice, forest floor and must stick. A beautifully elegant wine with breadth, structure and viscosity on the palate