Collection: Giant Steps 2023 Releases

In 1997, Margaret River native Phil Sexton arrived in the Yarra Valley in search of a new challenge after a career in beer brewing. He sought out vineyards rich in character, founding ‘Giant Steps’ (Named after John Coltrane’s famous album) that same year and forging a reputation for making some of the Yarra Valley’s most exciting wines.

Giant Steps achieves their signature, site-specific style through meticulous vineyard management and a hands-off approach in the winery. Their vineyards are farmed with both organic and biodynamic principles, and since their 2020 acquisition by Jackson Family Wines, they have begun the process of achieving certification. Led by matriarch Barbara Banke, Jackson Family Wines have been “quietly leading the field in sustainability” (Jancis Robinson MW) for several years, spearheading the International Wineries for Climate Action in 2019 and inspiring producers worldwide to reduce their carbon emissions.

We have been selling the wines for over 10 years and whilst always good, the releases over the last 2-3 years have gone up a significant notch. These are genuinely world class wines that are getting amazing press. None more so than in the esteemed Halliday Wine Companion, arguably the most influential and respected publication and review website in Australia. The wines are offered by the bottle, by the case and special mixed case containing all 9 of the single vineyard wines that have been imported, at a special discount of c10%. These come with tasting notes either printed or digital from the winery

Giant Steps in the Yarra Valley has been named the 2025 Halliday Winery of the Year.

"It’s always a special moment when a wine wins its category two years in a row. It’s not just an achievement, it’s a revelation. It is because it’s just so extraordinarily unlikely, amid the thousands of wines submitted and tasted, that the same wine will come out top in its category in consecutive years. This is particularly true in a category like Pinot Noir where so many of the biggest names of Australian wine push forward. Giant Steps' Applejack Pinot Noir 2023 took out the top Pinot Noir award this year, as the 2022 did last year. (also avaiable to buy)

When the identities of the finalists were revealed at judging, and the winning wine turned out to be Giant Steps’ Applejack, it was a goosebumps moment for many. Moments like this are the seed of legends. Giant Steps, right now, breathes rare air. It’s been an outstanding winery for a long time, but the combination of energy and expertise – and no doubt plenty more besides – that winemaker Melanie Chester has brought since she arrived at the winery in November 2021 has frankly been breathtaking.

Melanie is a force in Australian wine now. She’s not ‘just’ the winemaker at Giant Steps, she’s also the general manager. She’s taken a top‑performing winery and pushed it harder, further. She’s done this so quickly that she’s made it seem matter of fact. It’s not. It’s something. Eight of Giant Steps’ wines scored 97 points or above this year. This is insanely impressive. Sixteen of its wines scored 95 or above. It achieved these scores across cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, syrah, cabernet blends and pinot noir.

If Giant Steps does something, it does it superbly. Small changes have been made in the winery under Melanie’s watch but then, given that quality has been high for so long, all that can ever be done now fits into the realm of the ‘one percenters’. As Melanie herself says, Giant Steps is ‘mining away at every little thing that could potentially give us a better product, irrespective of how much pain or how expensive it might be. If it makes better wine, I am all in and I am glad that I have teams in the winery and vineyard who feel the same’.

In recent times Giant Steps has added the prized Bastard Hill vineyard to its armoury. Great chardonnay and pinot noir now come from it....There’s a restlessness to Giant Steps, an urge. All the wineries nominated in our Winery of the Year section would have made for a fine choice as our winner. But Giant Steps puts its name into our history books so unequivocally. In short, it’s a thrilling range to drink from. We are pleased to announce Giant Steps as our Winery of the Year". – Campbell Mattinson Halliday 2025 Wine Companion

2023 Vintage
“Then 2023 was colder again. It was our latest ripening vintage on record at Giant Steps by about two weeks. It was another cold, wet spring – we were a bit over that by this point! - and then a very wet January, too. Not a day over 35C, which is cold for us. We’d usually crack 40C every day in the summer. But that meant we ended up with high-acid
Chardonnay that is so crystalline, pure and linear. They’ll live for a million years. The Pinots are delicious; I think it’s a great Pinot year – they’re super sweet-fruited with lots of beautiful, fleshy tannins and a sweet kind of pulpiness to the wines. The 2023s are delicious and probably the best vintage we’ve seen out of all three [compared to 2021 and 2022].”- Mel Chester, Head Winemaker