Giant Steps Primavera Vineyard Pinot Noir 2024

Accolades:
97/100 – James Halliday Wine Companion
96/100 – James Suckling
95/100 – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
94/100 – Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2023 vintage)
94/100 – Decanter (2023 vintage)

“From Lou Primavera’s ’01-planted vineyard at 300m on red volcanic soils in Woori Yallock. 35% whole bunches. A bright crimson red. This always highly seductive and perfumed wine has aromas of raspberries, orange peel and cranberries as well as a little musk stick and rose bush. There’s a gentle succulence on the palate that’s nicely balanced by the wine’s supple tannins and fine-boned acidity. Long, lovely, now and over the next six to eight years.” – Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion

“Floral and perfumed, with crushed red cherries, summer flowers, pomegranates, rose hips and violets. The palate is reserved and delicate, with a mid-weighted mouthfeel and crunchy tannins, giving lovely floral and red fruit notes with a savory undertone of fresh herbs and fennel. Hints of citrus peel, blood oranges and graphite add complexity. A really pretty and delicate wine. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling

“The 2024 Primavera Vineyard Pinot Noir is floral and fine, with a profusion of dried herbs and red fruit. The wine is sedate in its way, gentle and weighted to the back palate with exceptional flow and seamlessness. I like this so much. It has less raw, brute force than the Applejack (a very impressive wine), but it feels no less impactful or long. “Placid,” comes to mind.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate

Vintage Note: 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.

Winemaking Notes: Handpicked in two parcels and chilled overnight before being 100% destemmed into small seasoned French oak vats for fermentation. Each clone was fermented and matured separately. The grapes were cold soaked for four days before fermentation began and spent between 10 – 14 days on skins, with gentle mixing throughout that time using gravity. All parcels completed malolactic fermentation and were then matured in French oak barriques (225L) – 20% new, 80% seasoned – for ten months. The wine was not moved and kept in contact with its lees before blending in December. Bottled by gravity. No fining. No filtration.

Alcohol: 13.5%

Variety: Pinot Noir

Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia