Six 96/100 rated Giant Steps Wombat Creek Chardonnay 2018, a popular winery of Australia's famous Yarra Valley region.

97/100 - James Suckling
94/100 - The Wine Front
95/100 - The Wine Front (2017 Vintage)
95/100 - James Halliday (2017 Vintage)

James Halliday 5 Star Rated Winery

James Suckling - "Wow. This is complex and structured with dried strawberries and fresh flowers. Full body. Wonderful depth and intensity. The texture is so impressive. Give it time, but hard not to drink it. "

Mike Bennie - "Whoa, hold onto your hat here, powerful whiffs of green herb, white pepper, faint mezcal, just ripe red cherry. The palate is light, glossy, silky but defined with talc-like tannins, sour-sweet flavours, green herbs, pepper again. Strong whole bunch kind of character, refreshing, fine, tat-work-lacy, sleek. Sheesh, this is a good and unique feel."

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 have 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.