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Giant Steps 'Applejack' Pinot Noir 2025
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- TASTING NOTE: "From the Applejack vineyard, planted on grey clay soils at 300m in Gladysdale in '97 by Ray Guerin. 35% whole bunches. A deep, bright plummy red. The perfume when you put your nose in the glass is off the chain! Aromas of wild strawberry, black raspberry, peony, bergamot and Chinese five-spice. Multi-faceted and layered on the medium-bodied palate, with the tannins perfectly interwoven with the fruit. 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." 98+ Points - Philip Rich, Halliday
- ABOUT THE WINE: Planted: 1997. Elevation: 300 metres. Soil type: Grey clay loam over black (basalt) volcanic base. Aspect: East facing slopes. Size: 12.5 Hectares. Applejack Vineyard is one of the Yarra Valley’s most distinctive Pinot Noir sites, set on a dramatic slope in the Upper Yarra and planted by respected viticulturist Ray Guerin in 1997. Its eastern aspect allows the morning sun to gently warm the vines, while the temperate rainforest surrounding the site shelters the vineyard from the heat of the afternoon. The wines often show the characters we love most in Pinot Noir: lifted forest fruits, red berries and mulberry, layered with more complex notes of freshly turned earth, red bean miso, Chinese five spice and XO sauce. On the palate, Applejack delivers intensity and texture, carried by tightly wound tannins and a long, savoury finish. Hand-picked, fermented in a combination of small oak fermenters and stainless-steel open vats. One block of MV6 was fermented as whole bunches, while the remaining clones were destemmed to whole berries and cold soaked for four days before wild fermentation. The final blend is 15% whole bunch fermented. All parcels were matured in French oak 15% new, 85% seasoned for ten months in 225L barriques, predominately Taransaud and Dargaud & Jaeglé. The wine was matured in barrique and kept in contact with its lees before blending in December. Bottled by gravity. No fining. No filtration.
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ABOUT THE PRODUCER: Giant Steps was founded by wine industry pioneer Phil Sexton, who ventured from Margaret River to Yarra Valley to find the ideal site to cultivate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir of purity and finesse. Phil found his holy grail near Gruyere in the Sexton vineyard, which he planted in 1997 on the steep slopes of the Warramate Ranges. A mad jazz fan, Phil named the winery after John Coltrane’s album and fitting metaphor “Giant Steps.” In 2003, Winemaker Steve Flamsteed came aboard, and the two set about producing a range of iconic Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays that express a profound sense of place from six finite sites in Yarra Valley. For Melanie Chester, who became Head of Winemaking and Viticulture at Giant Steps in 2021, this long-held admiration for the winery comes with an intrinsic pressure to honour the expressions and diversity of its single sites. This means keeping the winemaking tight and transparent, so that diversity of site is what you taste. For more than 20 years, Giant Steps has been advancing Australia’s reputation for cool-climate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.
- COUNTRY: Australia
- REGION: Yarra Valley, Victoria
- VARIETAL: Pinot Noir
- WINE STYLE: Red Wine
- WINEMAKER: Melanie Chester
- CLASSIFICATION: Minimal Intervention, Sustainable Farming, Vegan
- CLOSURE: Screwcap
- ABV%: 13.5%
- SIZE: 750ml
