Giant Steps 'Circle of Fifths' Chardonnay 2024

$59.99

– Sold Out

| /

Notify me when this product is available:

 More payment options

Region: Yarra Valley
Grapes: Chardonnay
First Glance: Potent, Flinty, Stonefruit, Cedar
Acclaim: 95pts

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. The grapes are then transported to the winery and put into the cold room overnight to cool down to 4 deg C before pressing the day following. Chardonnay is always whole bunch pressed either directly to barrel or pressed to tank before immediate transfer to barrel with full solids. The wine is wild fermented in French Oak Puncheons, 15% of which is new while the balance is seasoned. The ferments are allowed to warm naturally, stirring daily to encourage fermentation and build texture. The level of malolactic fermentation (MLF) is dependent on season. In 2024, 10% of the barrels went through MLF. Post fermentation, the wines are sulphured and then held in a reductive environment on full lees with no stirring until blending and bottling in November.

The Review:
Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front - 95pts
"It’s a killer chardonnay. Direct, powerful, long, potent with mid-palate flavour but searing and complex through the finish. Flint, white peach, lemon curd, pure lemon, steel and a delicious marshalling of hay, meal, cedar and woodsmoke characters all have this wine rocketing along. It’s both dramatic and controlled. It tastes and feels like a wine from a producer who is at the top of its game."