Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2022

Description

Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 2022 blew me away when I first tasted it alongside the Head of Winemaking & Viticulture at Giant Steps, Melanie Chester. With some amazing vineyards in the Yarra Valley, she and her team produce amazing single-vineyard Chardonnays but this, their “straight” Yarra Valley Chardonnay, was actually my favourite of them all because of its pure, clean style and finesse. Melanie explained the reasons for the great concentration, depth and texture of this amazing wine. They are down to a mix of grapes from specially selected Chardonnay clones planted in both upper and lower Yarra Valley, simple wine-making including whole-bunch pressing, indigenous yeast, their unique gravity flow winery and lees ageing. Only 15% of the wine is fermented in oak so that the oak influence is more on the texture than on the taste.

The resulting wine, Giant Steps Yarra Valley Chardonnay 202, is fruit-driven. It tastes principally of citrus fruits, just-ripe stone fruits, melon with a hint of nectarine but has so much more including mineral and floral notes and a delicate nuttiness. I especially like the Chablis-esque crisp acidity that the wine has which sits harmoniously with the fruity flavours and the creamy texture. This is a very elegant and complex wine with a very long, clean finish, one of the signs of a true quality wine.

For another fabulous New World Chardonnay, try Lothian’s South African Chardonnay.