Giant Steps Applejack Vineyard Chardonnay 2024

Accolades:
97/100 – Campbell Mattinson
97/100 – James Suckling
96+/100 – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
98/100 – Huon Hooke, The Real Review (2023 vintage)

“Small volume, 30% ceramic egg. Reserved, powerful, super complex nose, smoky, spicy, citrus oils and juice, into stonefruit, into an earthen aspect. This is for the cellar and this is super. Aftertaste brings grapefruit and apple skins, texture, mineral, stones. Outstanding Applejack Chardonnay. Intense and pure but with layers of character. Reserved power. One of the most characterful Applejack chardonnays I’ve tasted. No new oak. It’s not exaggerated or in your face but this just has all the extras.” – Cambpbell Mattinson

“A notably complete single-vineyard bottling, with an excellent balance of tension and power. Aromas of lime leaves, sliced lemons, sea spray, green apples, oyster shells and flint. The palate is tense and nervy, with a strong mineral drive and strength, which will unravel beautifully over time. Floral and mineral in character, this chardonnay will reward time in the bottle. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling

“The 2024 Applejack Vineyard Chardonnay, like the 2023 tasted alongside, is so perfumed. This is concentrated and intense, with brilliant width and transparency on the palate. The wine seems to wash over the tongue, staining it with flavor and leaving behind a trail of chalky phenolics. Despite writing less for this wine than the 2023, my preference is here. It’s an unreal wine and warmly recommended.” – 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: 100% handpicked and whole bunch pressed. The juice was then transferred directly to barrel and clay egg by gravity with no settling, taking full lees. Wild fermented in 500L French oak puncheons and a 675 litre open top clay egg vessel. No bâtonnage. No malolactic fermentation. Maturation for 9 months in French oak and clay egg – 10% New, 60% seasoned, Mercurey, Taransaud, Dargaud & Jaeglé. 30% Clay egg.

Alcohol: 13.3%

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia