2021 Giant Steps Equate Chardonnay

Highly Rated
The debut release of an icon Chardonnay showcasing the very best of Giant Steps Chardonnay from the legendary 2021 season.

Price:
Sale price$113.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship, only 1 unit left
Rendering loop-subscriptions

Description

In 2021, a remarkable vintage unfolded in the Giant Steps Yarra Valley vineyards, setting the perfect stage for the launch of this new project.

This is the culimantion of more than two decades of great farming on the Sexton vineyard. Two blocks on this site; Block 2, planted with the 96 clone, and Block 12 planted with Mendoza clone, both consistently outperform the other Chardonnay blocks on this signature vineyard. In 2021 they were combined into this, something of a 'Super Chardonnay' from this elite Yarra Valley producer.

96 points
"With its bouquet of ripe stone fruits, mandarin, grilled cashews, fennel seed and a little gun flint, this gently broad shouldered and creamily textured wine finishes pithy and long. A hedonistic chardonnay to drink now and over the next three to four years."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

Sexton vineyard boasts shallow gravelly loams over a rocky clay base, promoting low bunch yields and intensely flavoured fruit with a high skin-to-juice ratio. The 96 clone contributes intense and pure fruit flavours, while the Mendoza clone, known for producing small and large berries on the same bunch (also known as hen-and-chicken), enriches the wine with elevated white tannin and phenolic content to balance the citrus nuances.

Only a very small amount of this inaugural vintage was produced. Arguably the greatest Chardonnay ever made by Giant steps, this will be a collector's item for decades to come.

"2021 was a terrific vintage for vineyard quality, we knew this was the year to launch this new project."
- Mel Chester (Giant Steps)

Vintage Notes
2021 was a terrific vintage for vineyard quality, we knew this was the year to launch this new project. We had a wet spring followed by a mild summer and some well timed rain in January, leading to healthy canopies. The overall temperature during the growing season was cooler than average which led to a long slow ripening period, thick grape skins, higher white tannin development, natural acidity retention and concentrated natural flavours as the grapes could hang out for longer. These aspects of the wine create high anti-oxidant properties and a higher natural acidity, hence a longer ageing potential for this wine.

Vineyard Notes
Location: Gruyere Planted: 1997 Elevation: 130 - 210 metres Soil Type: Grey clay loam over granite / ironstone Aspect: North facing slopes Size: 30 Hectares For 20 years we have farmed Sexton Vineyard and always kept an eye on our best performing blocks. The sum of this knowledge has lead to us identifying the two blocks used in this wine as being superior and consistent each year, and so the concept for a new wine was created. Located on the steep north facing slopes of the Warramate Ranges, the Sexton Vineyard is our premium Chardonnay Vineyard. 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, resulting in intensely flavoured fruit with high skin to juice ratio, hence the higher phenolics in this wine. The 96 clone delivers intense and pure fruit while the Mendoza, which produces small and big berries on the same bunch (millerandage), results in high white tannin and phenolic content to balance the citrus flavours. We hope you enjoy drinking this wine as much as we enjoyed making it.

Winemaking
100% handpicked from our two blocks which are consistently strong year after year: Block 2 planted to 96 and Block 12 planted to Mendoza. The grapes are handpicked, meticulously sorted in the vineyard, and the fruit is then refrigerated overnight to cool before whole bunch pressing. The juice is transferred to barrel by gravity with no settling, allowing all the solids to go to ferment. The barrel selection is all one year seasoned 500L French puncheons on full solids, all second fill 2020 oak; Taransaud and Mercurey. After primary fermentation, the wine was bâtonnaged to taste each month and let the barrels go through natural malolactic fermentation. Maturation for 11 months in barrel, 1 month on lees in tank and 2 years in bottle.

96 points - "From Steve Flamsteed's final vintage as chief winemaker and his two favourite blocks on the Sexton vineyard. Two puncheons, 50% mlf and 12 months' maturation in two seasoned French puncheons. With its bouquet of ripe stone fruits, mandarin, grilled cashews, fennel seed and a little gun flint, this gently broad shouldered and creamily textured wine finishes pithy and long. A hedonistic chardonnay to drink now and over the next three to four years." - Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

Giant Steps

Giant Steps is a premium Yarra Valley outfit founded by Phil Sexton and located in the township of Healesville. Beginning with the vision of original head winemaker Steve Flamsteed, Giant Steps developed an international reputation for producing some of Australia's finest examples of single vineyard Pinot Noir & Chardonnay.

In 2021 the exceptionally talented Melanie Chester joined the team as the new head of winemaking and viticulture, marking an exciting new chapter in this elite producer's story.

Every aspect of the Giant Steps process is geared towards making truly world-class wines from the vineyard to the final bottled wine. The focus is on what the Yarra does best - Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Shiraz/Syrah and Bordeaux-variety blends - and showcasing the unique terroirs of some of the region's finest vineyards.

Others also liked

Recently viewed

Shipping

Delivery is free on orders of $150 or more!

For orders under this amount, delivery is calculated at checkout based on your postcode. You can order in any quantity or combination of wines you like. Straight dozens are not required.

We will dispatch your order the same or next business day.

Estimated delivery transit time varies depending on your location. Please review this page for specific estimates.

Sydney (Our Vans): If no one is home and there are no special delivery instructions our driver will try to call for instructions. If the driver believes there is a safe space to leave your wine they will do so if not, they will return the item to us and hold your order until further instruction from you. 

Melbourne (Anonymous Wine Freight): If no one is home and there are no special delivery instructions, the courier will try to call for instructions. If the driver believes there is a safe space to leave your wine they will do so. if not, they will return the item to their dispatch centre and hold until further instruction from you.

Australia Post: Australia Post will leave the parcel if they have been given authority to leave and it is deemed safe to do so. To give your Authority to Leave, please enter this in the 'SPECIAL REQUEST' box at checkout.

Ordering

We want Different Drop customers to always be getting the best price. If you see a lower price elsewhere, just get in touch and we will sort it out for you. We handle all our price-matching on a case by case basis.

Some things to keep in mind: 

  • Retrospective price-matching is available for 30 days after you have purchased from us.
  • The price match cannot be used in conjunction with a coupon or one-off deal we are offering. The idea is for you to get the best price in the market so if that is already achieved through a coupon then we won't price match on top of that.
  • We don't price match clearance or fire sales.
  • We’ll match the listed price as long as it is a legitimate offer and the competing store is actually able to fulfil the order (they have stock or more stock is en route). Essentially we won't price match cheeky vendors listing wines they have no hope of actually getting for you...
  • It must be a publicly listed price. We won't match a price that has been achieved through a coupon/cash-back arrangement, or through a non-advertised offer over the phone or otherwise.  
  • It is limited to a reasonable retail quantity.

We'll treat each price match request on its merit and reserve the right to refuse where we deem fit. For example, particularly rare wines, from non-trust-worthy vendors, in circumstances we deem illegitimate or if we feel our policy is being unfairly taken advantage of.

At the end of the day, we'll look after you and use common sense to ensure you're getting the best price, please just don't take the p%$$!

No, feel free to mix it up! There is no minimum requirement. You can order wines in any quantity or combination, 1 or 50+ bottles.

We stock three different sized gift boxes (single, three bottle and six), all are available for purchase for a flat rate of $8. They look great and make an awesome impression.

To add a gift box to your order, simply add at checkout. The special requests box is your friend, please give us as many details of what you are looking for and we will try our best, or get in contact to discuss it with you. 

If you want to bulk order gifts or if you have any trouble please email hello@differentdrop.com or call and we can try and help.

 

If you can't add more wine to your cart it means we are low on stock of that wine. For example, if you are only able to 3 bottles and no more that means we only have 3 bottles left of that wine. If it's a must have, please contact us and we may be able to order more in for you.

Call Us

Send a message