$59.99
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Region: Yarra Valley
Grapes: Pinot Noir
First Glance: Cherry, Silky, Twiggy, Undergrowth
Acclaim: 94+pts
The Wine:
Blended exclusively from Giant Steps' single vineyard sites, Circle of Fifths captures the strengths of these vineyards in one wine – carefully crafted and fine-tuned over myriad blending sessions. These wines were getting lost in the regional 'Yarra Valley' expression, and with the Fifths, these sites come together to tell a new story. “Where the Single Vineyard wines are the pure tones of each vineyard, Circle of Fifths is the chord.” - Melanie Chester, Chief Winemaker
The 2024 vintage was a more classic Yarra season. A cool start to Spring and ideal flowering conditions led to good fruit set and moderate yields. December was cool and mild, with significant rainfall at New Years and during the first week of January, giving the vines a good drink leading into the heat of February. Mid to late February was drier and warmer than is common in the Yarra, leading to great ripening conditions with no disease pressure and quite a fast vintage.
At Giant Steps, 100% of the fruit is hand picked and fastidiously hand sorted in the vineyard. Pinot Noir has one of two processing pathways at Giant Steps - either fermented semi carbonic with 100% whole bunch or destemmed and fermented with whole berries. When the fruit arrives at the winery it is determined which direction to take the parcel depending on clone, vineyard, stem ripeness and flavour. The whole bunch batches are fermented warm with minimal mixing for 14 days. The destemmed whole berry parcels are cold soaked for 3 days before they are allowed to warm up and start fermentation naturally. All cap management is done using gravity drain and returns, allowing for gentle extraction before pressing. Each parcel is then transferred by gravity to French oak Barriques for malolactic fermentation and is kept on those lees for the duration of its maturation. The parcels are blended together in Spring before bottling in December. The 2024 Circle of Fifths blend is 42% whole bunch parcels and 15% new French oak. This wine is bottled by gravity without fining or filtration.
The Review:
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 94+pts
"This is complex and well-flavoured but it’s the spread of the finish that sets it apart. It’s an excellent pinot noir. Complex blue, red and black berried/cherried fruit flavours, gentle reductive notes, a general freshness, and a silken-bordering-on-velvety touch to the palate texture. Red cherry and strawberry characters are the main game but it darts in various directions from there, mint and crushed twiggy herb notes in there among it all, along with undergrowth, along with woodsmoke. This wine feels as though it’s itching to release yet more complexities; it has that vibe. Time will be kind."
