2018 Giant Steps `Sexton Vineyard` Pinot Noir Yarra Valley Victoria – buy online

WHO?

Phil Sexton, the founder and owner of Giant Steps, named his winery after an album by musician John Coltrane. It’s also a great allusion to the giant step he took when he sold his initial winery in Margaret River and moved to Victoria. Chief winemaker Steve Flamsteed aims to express the unique characteristics of each vineyard site, grape variety, and vintage through meticulous work in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the winery.

WHERE?

With a history dating back 175 years, there’s no doubt that the Yarra Valley is one of Australia’s most prestigious wine regions with a cooler climate and the first appellation in Victoria. In the winery, fundamental principles include the use of gravity instead of pumps, indigenous yeasts, and minimal fining and filtration. Sexton’s vineyard is located in the heart of the Yarra Valley, where yields are naturally low, resulting in complex and concentrated wines. Biodynamics has been a primary tenet here from the very beginning.

WHY?

Giant Steps’ Single Vineyard philosophy, since its inception, ranks among the most impressive explorations of micro-location influence in Australia—a practice that no one had seriously undertaken before. In the case of Pinot Noir, this translates to one clone (MV6), one region (Yarra Valley), and one epic winemaker (Steve Flamsteed). In short, it’s an incredibly limited edition of an extraordinary wine. We can only salute Steve Flamsteed and his team for this remarkable achievement.

James Suckling – 95 pts

Bob Campbell MW – 94 pts

Wine Enthusiast – 93 pts