Giant Steps is located in Victoria's stunning Yarra Valley in southeastern Australia. It was set up by Phil Sexton; a legendary figure in the Australian drinks industry. He founded Australia's first craft brewery, the Matilda Bay Brewing Company in 1983, and in 2000 co-founded Little Creatures Brewing Company, arguably Australia's most influential craft brewery. But wine was also on his agenda. In 1996 he moved to the Yarra Valley to found a new winery, splitting it into two parallel ventures: Giant Steps and Innocent Bystander. Sexton wanted to cultivate Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to make wines with purity and finesse, and this cool climate area provided the perfect location to realise this goal. The fruit for the Innocent Bystander wines were sourced from grapes grown across the Yarra Valley, but those for Giant Steps wines were produced exclusivity from single vineyard sites. Giant Steps was sold to Jackson Family Wines in 2019. Steve Flamsteed has been the Giant Steps winemaker since 2003. Fruit is sourced from owned and leased vineyards, as well as long-term contracted growers. The winemaking techniques are pretty much uniform, but the different vineyard sites shine through in the meticulously crafted wines, as distinctively as those from Burgundy, Barolo and the Mosel.
The 30 hectare Sexton Vineyard, planted on the slopes of the Warramate Ranges at between 130 to 210 metres above sea level on shallow gravelly loams atop a rocky clay base, produces full-bodied Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs with ripe fruit.
The 12.5 hectare Applejack Vineyard in the Upper Yarra Valley at 320 metres produces racy, flinty Chardonnays and herbaceous Pinot Noirs from volcanic basalt based grey-brown clay loam.
The 8.5 hectare Tarraford Vineyard is farmed with a biodynamic approach, planted at 100 metres on grey clay loam. It has a cooler microclimate than other sites and a diversity of aspects and clones provides many blending options.
Primavera has 12 hectares in Hoddles Creek planted at 240 metres on red clay loam with Pinot Noir, making polished sophisticated wines.
The 16 hectare Wombat Creek planted at 410 metes is the highest vineyard in the Yarra Valley. Here the volcanic red ferrous loams and ultra-cool climate produce distinctively soft and refined, delicate yet intense Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs.
Giant Steps also produce a Yarra Valley Range of wines made from hand-picked, wild fermented fruit from these estates, each expressive wine true to the regional characteristics of the Yarra Valley.
Giant Steps are recognised as a benchmark for cool climate Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. They have achieved global recognition for their multi-award winning wines and been named one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wines & Spirits Magazine.