Description
The Giant Steps Single Vineyard wines are benchmarks for the Yarra Valley.
This is the complete set of their 2025 Chardonnays, includiong the extremely limited and stunning Bastard Hill Vineyard. Pristine, elegant yet powerful and seductive, the 2025s may be the finest release in years.
A true treat for any serious Chardonnay drinker and a masterclass in the expression of Yarra Valley terroir.
- 2025 Giant Steps Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2025 Giant Steps Bastard Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2025 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Chardonnay
- 2025 Giant Steps Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay
2025 Giant Steps Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
Planted by Phil Sexton in 1997 on steep north-facing slopes in Gruyere, Sexton is always the most open and confident of the Giant Steps single vineyard Chardonnays, with some extra pizzaz and x-factor in 2025!
It's lower in altitude relative to Bastard Hill and Applejack, north-facing and exposed, with thin topsoil over shallow gravelly loams on a rocky clay base. Low yields, high skin to juice ratio. The Gingin and Mendoza clones produce characterful "hen and chicken" bunches, large and small berries together on the same bunch, which brings a textural, white tannin quality that's unique to this site.
Handpicked and whole-bunch pressed, the juice transferred to barrel by gravity with full lees and no settling. Wild fermented across 500L French puncheons and a new 1200L Mercurey foudre in 2025 (affectionately nicknamed "fleur" by the team), with a small amount of batonnage post fermentation and 15% malo. Nine months in French oak, 31% new. The foudre adds a different dimension of oxygen and texture that you can feel in the wine.
Stone fruit, candied ginger, yuzu, grapefruit and roasted hazelnut on the nose, then mineral, white peach, lemonade and nougat through a beautifully concentrated palate. The finish is long, pithy and mouth-watering. It's immediately impressive and generously expressed as always, but 2025 has a little more under the hood and will develop beautifully.
95 points
"It’s immediately impressive, beautifully well sustained, complex in a hand-in-glove way. Cellar this; it needs a year or three. It will be great."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
97 points
"Expressive with aromas of stone fruits, candied ginger, grapefruit and roasted hazelnut. Just as good on the beautifully concentrated mid-palate, finishing with mouth-watering acidity on the very long, pithy finish."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
2025 Giant Steps Bastard Hill Vineyard Chardonnay
Bastard Hill is, by now, widely regarded as one of Australia's great Chardonnay sites. That's a big call for a vineyard originally planted for sparkling wine back in 1986, but Ray Guerin knew what he was doing when he chose these steep volcanic loam slopes in Gladysdale. At up to 400 metres, it's dramatically cooler than the valley floor. Giant Steps picks it a full month after sites like Sexton and Tarraford.
The 2025 season's wet winter and warm dry spring delivered another compressed harvest, but Bastard Hill doesn't rush. Fruit was handpicked, whole-bunch pressed and transferred to 500L French puncheons by gravity without settling. No malolactic fermentation. Nine months in used French oak (17% new). Simple, precise, hands-off.
Crushed rock, nashi pear, ruby grapefruit and orange blossom on the nose, then grapefruit, white peach, almond butter and a persistent thread of brine through the palate. Pure and precise, with a saline acid line that gives it real length and structure. There's a chalky, talc-like quality in the finish that's genuinely special. Approachable now but built to age effortlessly.
It's the third Chardonnay Giant Steps has made from this vineyard, and both reviewers say it's the best yet. We concur - a stunning modern Australian Chardonnay.
97 points
"The most complete wine yet released under the Giant Steps Bastard Hill name; which is saying something. Intensity, length, texture and X-factor are all so beautifully realised here."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
98 points
"This is the third and best wine Giant Steps has made from this cool site... A special wine that will age effortlessly over the next decade."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
2025 Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Chardonnay
Applejack is best known as one of the Yarra's great Pinot Noir sites, so the Chardonnay tends to fly under the radar. It shouldn't.
The site sits on dramatically close-planted east-facing slopes in Gladysdale at up to 320 metres, on grey clay loam over black basalt, planted by Ray Guerin in 1997. The Chardonnay parcel is just 1.8 hectares, and typically yields only around six barrels. It's one of the most limited wines Giant Steps makes, and one of the most exciting.
Handpicked and whole-bunch pressed, the juice was transferred straight to barrel by gravity with no settling and full lees. Wild fermented in 500L French puncheons. No batonnage, no malolactic fermentation, 12% new oak for nine months.
The result is pure, tense and mineral. Lemon, white peach, cedar, a touch of flint and a thread of lactose through the middle. Fine-boned acidity that runs all the way through a long, precise finish. Mattinson calls it "Chardonnay for Chardonnay lovers" and says it's on a mission. He's not wrong.
96 points
"It’s a beauty. Pure, long, showing a little more flint than usual, all line and length in general but with a bit of extra punch and flare on top... Fantastic wine. Compelling. Intense. On a mission."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
96+ points
"The palate is equally restrained, with a lovely fine vein of acidity that runs through the wine. Finishes long and precise. An Applejack that can be enjoyed now and over the next five to seven years."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
2025 Giant Steps Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay
Tarraford is technically the lowest and warmest of the Giant Steps single vineyard sites, sitting at just 100 metres in a protected valley in Tarrawarra. But the Chardonnay blocks are planted on the coolest slopes, one south-facing and tucked into the central vale, the other catching the morning sun from the east. The microclimate is far cooler than the address suggests, and the wines reflect it.
The 2025 season's wet winter and warm, dry spring set up a compact but high-quality harvest, and the site delivered accordingly. Handpicked and whole-bunch pressed, the juice went straight to barrel by gravity with full lees and no settling. Fermented in 500L French oak puncheons, with 18% malolactic fermentation and 21% matured in ceramic egg alongside seasoned oak. Thirty-one percent new oak in the final blend, nine months total. That combination of mlf, ceramic egg and a touch more new wood gives it a creaminess and mid-palate weight that sets it apart.
Grapefruit, nectarine, pear, cedar and salted almonds, with white flowers, saline complexity and a bit more weight and creaminess than usual from that combination of mlf, ceramic egg and a touch more new wood.
A genuinely stylish Chardonnay and in Campbell Mattinson's words, "a masterclass". Hard to argue.
95 points
"This is Tarraford in fine form. It has an inherent and up-front generosity but it’s oh so stylish from the mid-palate onwards."
- Campbell Mattinson (The Wine Front)
96 points
"Delicious straight out of the gate but structured enough to cellar for at least the next four to six years."
- Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
| Price Bracket | $51 to $100 |
| Variety | Chardonnay |
| Country | Australia |
| Region | Yarra Valley |
| Australian State | VIC |
| Feature |
High Score |
| Size | 10 |
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