Giant Steps Circle of Fifths Chardonnay 2024

96 POINTS - Philip Rich, Halliday Wines
"An exciting new addition to the Giant Steps range, this new blend of all the single-vineyard wines is an absolute cracker and sits very comfortably in the range, both qualitatively and price-wise. Aromas of gently grilled nuts, confit lemon and a touch of struck match can all be found on the bouquet, while the palate is chalky, tensile and long. By the time this is released in June it should be singing."

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. In 2024, all of our Pinot and Chardonnay was ready in quick succession, leading to a compressed harvest - with the whole valley picked in the space of 3 weeks (where it normally spreads across 6 weeks). An exciting ride for our team, but ultimately giving us wines with great flavour, bright acidity and balance.

Blended exclusively from our single sites in similar proportions, Circle of Fifths wines are made up of the batches that are not chosen for the Single Vineyard wines from that year. They capture the strengths of our unique sites into one wine, coming 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

At Giant Steps, we hand pick 100% of our fruit and fastidiously hand sort 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. We allow the ferments 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, we sulphur and then hold the barrels in a reductive environment on full lees with no stirring until blending and bottling in November.