96 points - "Along with the chardonnay, this is an exciting new addition to the Giant Steps range. A blend of all the single-vineyard wines and mainly from the vineyards in the Upper Yarra. 40% whole bunches. Gently brooding with aromas of wild black cherries and raspberries along with some whole-bunch–derived fennel seed spice and a touch of violets. Concentrated, with far more stuffing that the Yarra Pinot. Ripe, suave tannins ensure this will be worth cellaring for at least five to eight years." - Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)

95 points - "A squeaky clean wine with pristine red summer berries. Raspberries, strawberries and dragonfruit encased with red jelly awaiting its dollop of cream. It’s animated with fuzzy sage leaf, boisterous sumac and white pepper spice. Some lint like tannins that thread right from start to finish, you’ll be most likely sipping away steadily to really notice their shadowy presence, but they support the charismatic fruit and woodsy herbal chorus very well. This is a celebration but will go the distance too, think of cellaring for 3-6 years further. Drink now, in a couple of years and squirrel away some. This will be snapped up fast. A lovely wine to have with pork gyoza dumplings." - Shanteh Wale (Halliday Wine Companion)

94+ points - "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." - Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)

Wine Details
Region
Yarra Valley, Victoria
Vintage
2024
Type
Red Wine
Variety
Pinot Noir
Volume
750ml
Alcohol Volume
13.5%
PH
3.49

Acidity
6.0g/L

Closure
ScrewCap
Bottling Date
January 2024

Harvest Date
February - March 2024

Background
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

Vintage Notes
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.

Vineyard Notes
Tarraford, Sexton, Primavera, Applejack and Bastard Hill Vineyards

Winemaking
At Giant Steps, we hand pick 100% of our fruit 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 we determine which direction to take the parcel depending on clone, vineyard, stem ripeness and flavour. Our whole bunch batches are fermented warm with minimal mixing for 14 days. The destemmed whole berry parcels are cold soaked for 3 days before we allow them to warm up and start fermentation naturally. All of our cap management is done using gravity drain and returns, allowing for gentle extraction before pressing. Each parcel is the 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.