Giant Steps Fatal Shore Pinot Noir 2021
$95.00 inc. GST
In 1986, The Fatal Shore by Australian author and art critic Robert Hughes, was published in the United States and the UK. A brooding, part novel and part historical tome: “The Epic of Australia’s Founding”, it delves into the dark history of Tasmania’s colonisation through the transportation of convicts to this remote and wild island.
The Coal River Valley lies over the Meehan Range East of Hobart and rolls down to the Southern Ocean; remote and wild are the images conjured up when visiting this pristine agrarian region, first farmed in the early 1800’s.
Accolades:
96/100 – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
96/100 – Halliday Wine Companion
96/100 – James Suckling
93/100 – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
“From the Nocton vineyard in Coal River Valley. Hand picked by 10.30am, into a refrigerated container. The MV6 clone (60%) is whole bunches and the D5V12 clone is fully destemmed. All barriques, 20% new. A gorgeous, bright, crimson. Perfumed and seductive, this leaps out of the glass with an array of aromas including red and black fruits, peony, Asian spices, orange peel and a hint of fresh vanilla bean. More sweet fruited and textured on the mid palate compared to the more fine-boned and linear Yarra single-vineyard pinots. Concentrated but not heavy, with ripe, gently chewy and persistent tannins rounding out an impressive and still quite tightly wound wine, that will need another year or 2 to relax and really hit its straps.” – Philip Rich, Halliday Wine Companion
“Attractive aromas of cherries and strawberries with dried herbs, rose petals and dried blood orange. Medium-bodied with polished texture and ultra fine tannins. It’s so lively and electrified with a pure and ripe fruit character that offers an array of cocoa-dusted strawberries and savory undertones. It’s spicy and long. Delicious. Drink or hold.” – James Suckling
“Bright, glowing youthful purple-red colour, medium depth; the bouquet is concentrated and rich, plummy and dark-cherried, bold and bright and punchy. The wine is at the fuller bodied end of the Aussie pinot spectrum. Great depth of concentrated black-cherry flavour, terrific length and assertive but nicely balanced tannins. Almost luscious. A very impressive pinot.” – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
“Made with fruit from the Coal River Valley, in Tasmania, the 2021 Fatal Shore Pinot Noir is a wholly darker and more brooding expression of Giant Steps Pinot Noir, although Flamo’s (chief winemaker Steve Flamsteed) take is that they were able to imprint the Giant Steps style on the wine, despite the fruit sourcing, which I agree with. The fruit, in case you were wondering, was reefer-trucked up to the winery and was in the Yarra by the following morning, where the two clones were treated differently; the MV6 was fermented with whole bunches, while the D5V15 was fermented whole berry. This brings a ripe cherry character to mind, with hints of red apple, fresh garden mint and crushed graphite tannins.” – Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate
Vintage Note: 2021 was a terrific vintage for both vineyard quality and quantity. We had a wet spring followed by a healthy amount of sunshine and some well-timed rain in January, leading to large green healthy canopies. The overall temperature during the growing season was lower than average which led to a long slow ripening period and great concentration of flavours and natural tannin structure.
Winemaking Notes: Hand picked, straight into a refrigerated container parked on the vineyard. The fruit is then immediately driven to Devonport and sailed across Bass Strait so we receive it into the winery the following morning. We destem the D clone and cold soak for 3 – 4 days, then allow it to warm to kick start fermentation (Indigenous yeast) in a small open oak vat. The MV6 (from the top of the hill) was fermented as whole bunches. Both parcels were matured in French oak – 25% new, 75% older – for 8 months in 225L barriques D&J, Vicard and Taransaud. Racked to blend, no fining, no filtration. Bottled by gravity.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Variety: Pinot Noir
Region: Coal River Valley, Tasmania, Australia
In stock
