95/100 Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion
95/100 Huon Hooke, The Real Review
94/100 Mike Bennie
94/100 Wine Enthusiast

Top Rated Pinot Noir of Year 2024 - Halliday Wine Companion

“Halliday Wine Companion - Australian Winery of the Year 2023 - Shortlisted. Ranked Top 8”.

Top 100 Wineries of the World (2013, 2014 & 2015, 2016) - Wine & Spirits Magazine
Gourmet Traveller Wine 'Winemaker of the Year' 2016

5 Stars - James Halliday Winery

Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion "Wonderful aromas and very spicy, with beautifully balanced flavours of red fruits, umami and truffle. Then lacy tannins take hold, while partial whole-bunch fermentation has given it a sapidity and vivacity. A lovely wine."

Huon Hooke, The Real Review "Medium to light red/purple colour. Very floral and rose-petally, with a tinge of lavender. Highly aromatic pinot. The palate is light to medium-weight and finely-textured, with a sheen of firm but fine tannins adding grip and structure. The aftertaste has a brothy umami savouriness and a lingering aftertaste. Compact and focused. An excellent Yarra pinot but if anything just a bit light. (Site is 230m, similar altitude as Applejack but the difference is the soil, which is red basalt)."

Mike Bennie "Sour cherry, tart pomegranate characters, lots of red fruitines and a light dusting of spice and minty herbal notes, Crisp texture, lighter feel but multi-dimensional in its layers of flavour and detail. Tannins wash over the wine and build gently to a tightening chew. Quite a floral wine here. Very appealing."

Wine Enthusiast "This vineyard sits on red basalt soils. As the springtime name implies, it's the most delicate of the lot. An enticing cherry-juice hue, it's vibrant, bursting with primary red-berry fruit and backed by gentle spice and dried-floral aromas. The palate is medium weight, but fills the mouth with more plump, juicy berries. There's length and elegance here, and tannins are fine and well-placed, but this is a fruit show at the moment: Those more complex meaty aromas will need another few years before they show up to the party."

Halliday Wine Companion Awards 2023, Philip Rich "A very bright crimson purple. So pure and perfumed with briary cherries, ripe redcurrants and freshly cut roses. Poised, juicy and energetic, the wine has so much tang and crunch, you barely notice that this is also structured finishing with long, gently puckering tannins. A wine with immediate appeal, but also one that will reward at least another 7-10 years in the cellar." (2021 vintage)

Vintage Note "2020 was a particularly challenging vintage across much of Australia, butwe were very lucky here in the Yarra Valley. It was a bit of a rollercoaster – with a cool, wet Spring, a dry December andthen a mild February, punctuated by a few significant rain events… This all led to lower than average yields across our Pinot Noir blocks, primarily driven by tighter, smaller bunches – the consequence of which is naturally high acidity, great flavour and vibrant colours. Overall, tiny crops but amazing quality."

Winemaking Notes "Hand picked, all fruit is chilled overnight to 12 degrees Celsius. Fermented in small oak fermenters and stainless steel open vats. The fruit was destemmed and sorted to create five individual, clonal, whole berry ferments. Every block from Primavera made it into the final blend – just a beautiful vintage on that red soil. All parcels were matured in French oak – 25% new, 75% older – for eight months in 225L barriques Taransaud, Vicard and D&J. Racked to blend, no fining, no filtration. Bottled by gravity."

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.

Founder 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.

After discovering Yarra Valley wines 25 years ago Lou Primavera planted this vineyard in Hoddles Creek in 2001. We have a long-standing relationship with the Primavera family having sourced fruit from the vineyard for some years. Testament to the increasing quality of this site, we are now producing a single vineyard Pinot Noir from Primavera.