fbpx

Giant Steps Ocarina Clay Ferment Chardonnay 2020

$69.00 inc. GST

Accolades:
95/100 – Mike Bennie, The Wine Front
94/100 – Huon Hooke, The Real Review
96/100 – James Suckling (2019 vintage)
96/100 – James Halliday (2019 vintage)

“All the four single vineyards combined their powers here. Fermented in clay eggs here. “Something in the vessels seem to fill the palate with texture, additional glycerol or sense of tannin or something”. The higher acidity fruit suits all this too.Convincing, outstanding wine of strength and sublime texture. Slightly wild, a super saline minerally core, green apple, faintest fino notes, plenty of detail and complexity here with striking drinkability in tow. Impressive length, clean lines, great character. A katana thrust. Chardonnay done fancy, but cool.” – Mike Bennie, The Wine Front

“Buttery Burgundian complexity sets this apart from the other 2020 Giant Steps chardonnays. It’s rich and remarkably complex for an unoaked wine. Ageing in clay ‘egg’ vessels provided some similar effects to a wood-matured effect. A more up-front, generous style and a quite remarkable wine. (50% malolactic, unfiltered. A blend of one egg from each of the four individual vineyards, Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack and Wombat Creek, plus Gruyere Farm). – Huon Hooke, The Real Review

Vintage Note: The 2020 season was a bit of a rollercoaster, beginning with a very cold winter into a cool wet Spring, a dry and warm December and then a mild February/March punctuated by a few rain events. The cool Spring delivered very low yields across our Chardonnay blocks, primarily driven by tighter, smaller bunches – the consequence of which is naturally high acidity and fresh savoury flavours. It was an old fashioned late season in the upper Yarra.

Winemaking Notes: A selected parcel of fruit from each of our 5 single vineyard sites was whole bunch pressed straight to 675 Litre open top Clay “Egg” vessels. Indigenous yeast fermentation. No stirring, the lids were sealed with clay at the completion of fermentation. The Applejack and Wombat Creek eggs went through spontaneous malolactic fermentation. Each Egg was decanted to blend for a long chill before being racked once more and then bottled by gravity. No fining, no filtration.

Alcohol: 12.5%

Variety: Chardonnay

Region: Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia

Out of stock