One of our top 10 wines of 2020!

"Dark cherry, plum, spicy biscuit oak, dried rose perfume. It’s fleshy, mouth-filling, though not particularly heavy, thick and silky tannin, even raspberry acidity, and a long insistently silty, slightly ashy tannin finish. Plenty to grab onto, yet it’s still identifiably Pinot Noir." - Mike Bennie, Wine Front

Season:

A very cool start to the season was punctuated by a few solid rain events in December that led to healthy dark green canopies.

The final stage of the growing season was warmer than average which led to accelerated ripening, and dark colours.

Natural acidity across both the clones in the top Pinot blocks was surprisingly high.

Fruit was hand sorted in both vineyard and winery.

The 2019 vintage in southern Tasmania has produced dark brooding textured Pinot Noirs.

Vinification:

Hand picked, straight into a refrigerated container parked on the vineyard.

The fruit is then immediately sailed across Bass Strait and Giant Steps receive it into the winery the following morning.

The Giant Steps team destem the D clone and cold soak for 3 – 4 days, then allow it to warm to kick start fermentation (Indigenous yeast) in a small open oak vat.

The MV6 from the top of the hill was fermented as whole bunches.

Both parcels were matured in French oak – 25% new, 75% older – for 8 months in 225L barriques.

Racked to blend, no fining, no filtration.

Bottled by gravity.

The Vineyard:

Location: Coal River Valley
Aspect: North-east facing
Size: 34 Hectares
Planted: 1999
Soil type: Calcareous & Triassic sandstone
Under vine: Mv6, D5V12

Giant Step's obsession with Single Vineyard Pinot Noirs from great Pinot growing areas around the world, they have gone as far south (and as cold) as you can go in this country.

Despite the cool temperatures, the sunlight hours are long and intense and we are intrigued by the depth of palate and colour that is possible from this landscape.

While it is made with the Giant Steps gentle winemaking approach, the result is clearly a world apart in terroir.

Technical Details:

Appellation:  Coal River Valley, Tasmania 
Vineyards: Nocton Vineyard 
Varietals: 100% Pinot Noir 
Clones: MV6, D5V12 
Harvested: 5th March – 18th March, 2019 
Bottled: 18th January, 2020 
Alc/Vol (%): 13.5 
TA (g/L): 5.57 
pH: 3.57 
Cellaring:  2-8 years