Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2023 ~ Yarra Valley, Australia

95/100 Wine Pilot
95/100 Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
91/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review
90/100 James Suckling
95/100 Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (2022 vintage)
94/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2022 vintage)
94/100 The Wine Front (2022 vintage)
96/100 Falstaff (2021 vintage)
95/100 Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion (2021 vintage)
94/100 Gabriella Poy, The Real Review (2021 vintage)
94/100 Tom Cannavan (2021 vintage)
94/100 The Wine Front (2021 vintage)
92/100 James Suckling (2021 vintage)
92/100 Gismodi on Wine (2021 vintage)
90/100 Wine Enthusiast (2021 vintage)

5 Stars - Halliday Wine Companion

Bronze - Korea Wine Challenge
Silver - Decanter World Wine Awards (2022 vintage)
Bronze - Decanter World Wine Awards (2021 vintage)

James Halliday 2021 Award-Winning Varietal - Chardonnay of the Year
Halliday Wine Companion 2025 Winery of the Year

Wine Pilot "Honeycrisp apple skin, lemon zest and green plum. Winter melon and starfruit. Plumes of talc powder, pomice and honeysuckle. Plenty of white delicate florals and a blush of nectarine. Intoxicating acidity and a kefir creaminess on the finish. A spray of saline and oak appears in its round shapes rather than toasty notes. Alive with energy and creeping unsuspecting power."

Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion "Great stuff and the perfect entrée to the year's superb lineup of single-vineyard chardonnays...A very bright green gold. Attractive scents of ripe white pears and nectarines, lemon curd and just the right amount of flint. Packs a punch on the saline, gently textured, gently chewy palate."

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "Very light colour, fresh and youthful with a gently appley aroma laced with straw/biscuity oak and creamy lees nuances, the palate is soft and grapy, fresh and fruity with a tickle of almost subliminal sweetness just underlining the fruit. Nicely balanced and very approachable. There are some appealing touches of artifact taking it out of the straightforward category."

James Suckling "Sassy, mid-weighted chardonnay. A solid curtain raiser, especially given the bounties to come. Nougat, creamed cashew and oodles of vanilla-pod oak, meshed with some struck-match reduction. Stone fruit allusions beyond. I've liked this wine very much in the past and appreciate this iteration. Yet I feel, perhaps for the first time, that the fruit weight is not sufficient for the oak tannins. The finish is rocky-road okay and tough. This needs time and plenty of optimism."

Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion "A light, bright green gold. Pure fruited with an attractive nose of just ripened orchard and stone fruits, pink grapefruit and orange blossom. A hint of matchstick and just-baked ginger snaps." (2022 vintage)

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "Creamy fluffy yeast lees aroma; subtle reduction; delicate, refined and fresh on palate, lovely feel and balance. Quite intense and long; slight grip to close." (2022 vintage)

Falstaff "A vibrant burst of peach fruit aroma leaps out of the glass. That's followed by a burst of limey freshness in the mouth. Citrus and green apple shape the flavours here but there's a lovely roundness of texture that stops this wine from feeling too pinched. Some subtle spice in the background adds another layer of pleasurable intrigue." (2021 vintage)

Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion "Whole-bunched pressed into older French puncheons. Natural fermentation and zero mlf. A super-bright green gold. Vibrant aromas with perfectly ripened stone fruits, grapefruit pith and an attractive touch of lemongrass and ginger. Gently textured, balanced and satisfying. A class act from beginning to end." (2021 vintage)

Gabriella Poy, The Real Review "Earthy aromas of moss and seashell sit alongside white florals and orange zest. Its tightly coiled palate unfolds with vibrant citrus fruits, holding a linear line. With air, it gains breadth. This is a very fine Aussie chardonnay, it's complex and delicious with great staying power that speaks to classy fruit sourcing." (2021 vintage)

Tom Cannavan "A very fine line of lemon and crisp, cool apple, quite a delicate lemon jelly style with the oak way in the background. Delightfully crisp and juicy on the palate, again focused on lemons and ripe yellow apple, even a touch of something floral, but absolutely beautiful balance here, long and shimmering into the finish in a slightly sweeter Chablis style." (2021 vintage)

Gismodi on Wine "Outstanding value. This Yarra Valley chardonnay comes off Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack, Primavera, and Wombat Creek Vineyards. Eight months down the road and retasted, it's equally compelling. The alcohol is an illuminating 12.5 percent, and the vintage was large and high quality. The overall temperature during the growing season was lower than average, which led to a long, slow ripening period and a significant concentration of flavours and natural acidity. The result is a high quality white with enticing mealy, leesy notes, fresh apricot, and lemon across the whole palate. As I said earlier, rich in a Grand Cru way but not overpowering." (2021 vintage)

James Suckling "A fleshy, textured chardonnay with aromas of apricots, honeysuckle, nutmeg, toast and persimmons. It’s medium- to full-bodied with bright acidity. Balanced, layered and very drinkable. Hints of flint at the end." (2021 vintage)

Wine Enthusiast "This renowned Yarra Valley producer's multi-vineyard Chardy neatly demonstrates the paradox between the variety's power and freshness Down Under. Fleshy peach, citrus and ginger are underpinned by toasty, mineral, lactic nuances. The palate walks a similar tightrope between richness and vibrancy, with length and structure amid heaps of tangy fruit and subtle oak." (2021 vintage)

Lower Yarra Valley, clone I10V1, fermented in a 657l ceramic egg, briefly settled on lees before gravity bottling.

Giant Steps is a privately owned, estate based, Yarra Valley grower and winemaker. Giant Steps has forged a reputation for delivering some of Australia’s most consistent, over-performing, varietal wines. These wines have received global acclaim and established a strong reputation in restaurants and fine wine stores around the world. Since 2003 Giant Steps wines have collectively been awarded 19 trophies and over 50 gold medals at major international and domestic wine shows and has been named one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wine & Spirits Magazine, the US for each of the last three years.

Owner Phil Sexton came to wine via beer. He started Little Creatures, a favourite of Aussie hopheads, in Perth (Western Australia). Yarra Valley is a region with a cool climate, best known for its Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. Yarra Valley is an hour’s drive east of Melbourne.

Giant Steps Yarra Valley range is made using 100% hand-picked fruit from Giant Steps estate vineyards. The wines are produced with wild ferments, gravity-flow winemaking techniques, and minimal fining and filtration. This approach produces highly expressive wines, true to the regional characteristics of the Yarra Valley.