94/100 Mike Bennie
92/100 Huon Hooke
94/100 James Halliday (2018 Vintage)
96/100 James Halliday (2017 Vintage)
95/100 The Real Review (2017 Vintage)
94/100 Wine Advocate (2017 Vintage)
93/100 Mike Bennie (2017 Vintage)
93/100 The Wine Front (2017 Vintage)

James Halliday 5 Star Rated Winery

Mike Bennie "Sexy Sexton Supple, soft and come-hither pinot noir. Cherry, red berries, nougat, subtle spice and a good lick of juicy acidity. It feels broad but well-honed, lots of flavour, lots of space in the palate, finishes spicy and fresh. A very seductive pinot with lots of detail in tow."

Huon Hooke "Savoury, fusty bouquet of earth and dried flower heads. The palate is intense and focused, refined and quite complex, especially considering its youth and station. Lovely mouth-feel and balance. Soft, fine tannins. A touch of aniseed and berry jam to close. Drinking superbly already."

James Halliday "A powerful, expressive, dark berry and plum bouquet, the palate doubling up on the fruit and adding high-quality pinot tannins. A quality wine.....” (2017 vintage)

Huon Hook "A top wine from a top vintage.....This delicious single-vineyard pinot is fruit-sweet and bright, loaded with red and dark cherry aromas of good intensity backed up by abundant fine, soft tannins. The balance is impeccable and the finish is persistent. " (2017 vintage)

Mike Bennie "Ripe cherry, red berry, faint meatiness, rosehip tea. Sets itself off on a darker, fuller path for pinot. Plush in the palate, dark chocolate and amaro, red berries, fine bitterness to finish with a smudge more bitter-dark chocolate. Mouthwatering, hunger-setting stuff. Fuller figured here. Breathy even. Nice though. Real nice. The ‘generous one’." (2017 vintage)

Different Drop Wine Team "A great release of Phil Sexton's home block Pinot Noir. Steve Flamsteed has delivered another beauty here from the sensational 2017 vintage." (2017 vintage)

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, 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). Winemaker Steve Flamsteed works exclusively on Giant Steps single vineyard wines. 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. Located on the steep north-facing slopes of the Warramate Ranges, alongside the vineyards of Yarra Yering and Coldstream Hills, the Sexton vineyard is exposed and demanding. Being on the higher slopes, topsoil is thin and root systems have established themselves in shallow gravelly loams above a tough rocky clay base. Bunch yields set naturally low in this environment, facilitating a low intervention approach to what is otherwise hand-tended viticulture. Biodynamic vineyard management principles are being introduced with the purpose of further distinguishing the site and improving grape and wine quality.

Pinot Noir is the dominant red wine grape of Burgundy, now produced in wine regions all over the world, including western Germany, northern Italy, Chile, South Africa, Australia and, perhaps most notably, California, Oregon and New Zealand.

The essence of Pinot Noir wine is its aroma of strawberry and cherry (fresh red cherries in lighter wines and stewed black cherries in weightier examples), underpinned in the most complex examples by hints of the forest floor. Well-built Pinot Noirs, particularly from warmer harvests, also exhibits notes of leather and violets, sometimes approaching the flavour spectrum of Syrah.

Giant Steps Wines