{"product_id":"2025-giant-steps-applejack-vineyard-pinot-noir","title":"2025 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir","description":"\u003cp\u003eApplejack is widely regarded as one of the finest Pinot Noir vineyards in Australia, and the 2025 release is another compelling chapter in its story. Planted by Ray Guerin in 1997 on dramatic east-facing slopes in Gladysdale at 300 metres, the site has a microclimate unlike anything else in the Yarra. Morning sun warms the vines gently; temperate rainforest shelters them from the afternoon heat. Grey clay loam over a black basalt volcanic base does the rest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 2025 season's wet winter and warm, dry spring set up a compressed but exceptional harvest, and Applejack delivered exactly what it always does when the conditions are right. One block of MV6 went in as whole bunches while the remaining clones were fully destemmed, cold soaked for four days before wild fermentation. Fifteen percent whole bunch in the final blend. Ten months in French oak barriques (15% new) on lees, bottled by gravity, no fining, no filtration.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe perfume when you put your nose in the glass is, in Philip Rich's words, off the chain. Wild strawberry, black raspberry, peony, bergamot and Chinese five spice, then forest berries, pure red cherry, crushed flowers and a push of tightly wound, next-level tannin through an impossibly long finish. Multi-faceted, dramatically structured and built for the long haul.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRich gave it 98+ and said he wasn't sure he'd tasted a better Applejack. This is a monumental wine in anyone's language and one of Australia's modern Pinot greats.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e96 points\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Stunning pinot noir. Exceptionally fragrant, dramatically well structured and then just so impressively persistent... This is top tier gear, no doubting it.\"\u003cbr\u003e- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e98+ points\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"The perfume when you put your nose in the glass is off the chain!.. It's incredibly long and will reward cellaring over the next decade or more. Not sure I've tasted a better Applejack Pinot, which is saying something.\"\u003cbr\u003e- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ciframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8wWTC6WSVAc?si=yyz7E0kVzk2LS-K4\" title=\"YouTube video player\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2572\/9722\/files\/GiantstepsVineyardmap_PNG_1024x1024_3bc85611-5d0c-482e-8555-12f6a95f35c9.jpg?v=1754281827\" alt=\"\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Giant Steps","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44894384422955,"sku":"2025 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir","price":105.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/2572\/9722\/files\/GiantStepsApplejackVineyardPinotNoir_700x_a8808bf8-97d9-4df3-b021-477fc7127b32.png?v=1787288556","url":"https:\/\/www.differentdrop.com\/products\/2025-giant-steps-applejack-vineyard-pinot-noir","provider":"Different Drop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}