2024 Giant Steps Circle of Fifths Chardonnay

96 POINTS

Philip Rich - Halliday Wine Companion

An exciting new addition to the Giant Steps range, this new blend of all the single-vineyard wines is an absolute cracker and sits very comfortably in the range, both qualitatively and price-wise. Aromas of gently grilled nuts, confit lemon and a touch of struck match can all be found on the bouquet, while the palate is chalky, tensile and long. By the time this is released in June it should be singing.

95 POINTS

Shanteh Wale - Winepilot

Here is a wine that speaks most loudly of the Yarra and secondly of its Giant Steps roots. Yellow grapefruit, winter melon and crunchy nectarine. Crumbling chalk dust, blue stone and almond paste. There is an inherent fruity jingle that chimes throughout the drinking experience, this is meant to be drunk in good humour, over the chattering and general hum of busy restaurants. A wonderful expression of Chardonnay that is for now, for merriment and for everybody. You don’t need hours to absorb its nuance and yet it is still a wine of complexity and detail. Its stretched lines of citrus juice acidity leave you hanging in wait for more. Drink now or will cellar well over another 5 -6 years. Perfect for crumbed prawns or a battered fish sando.

95 POINTS

James Suckling

A blend of lots from five single-vineyard bottlings, this chardonnay sits on the edge of reduction, with aromas of flint, phosphorus, lemon pith, grapefruit rind, chalk and orange blossoms. The palate is mid-weighted and textural, with a strong mineral drive and a high level of polish, leading into a mouthwatering finish. All the flashiness of the single-vineyard wines at a more approachable price.

95 POINTS

Christina Pickard - Wine Enthusiast

A new label that combines fruit from all single vineyard sites. It's tightly wound—even a tad austere—but there's depth and expression of all sites, while also walking to its own distinctive beat. Waxy lemon and seashells accompany a creamier, more textural palate. A through line of bright, oh-so-Yarra Valley acidity shines. This should age beautifully—likely for several decades—but it's a classy, food friendly drop now with aeration in glass or decanter first.

95 POINTS

Campbell Mattinson - The Wine Front

This is a new chardonnay (and Pinot Noir) to the Giant Steps range. It draws fruit from all five of the Giant Steps single vineyard sources. The Circle of Fifths is a musical term, related to harmony, which fits with the Giant Steps name, which is a musical reference in itself. I’m not a big one for wine names but this one was well thought out, and is a nice complement to what the wine is in the glass. i.e. it’s a five-part harmony of vineyards, or is an attempt to be. It’s a killer chardonnay. Direct, powerful, long, potent with mid-palate flavour but searing and complex through the finish. Flint, white peach, lemon curd, pure lemon, steel and a delicious marshalling of hay, meal, cedar and woodsmoke characters all have this wine rocketing along. It’s both dramatic and controlled. It tastes and feels like a wine from a producer who is at the top of its game.

94 POINTS

Erin Larkin - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2024 Circle of Fifths Chardonnay comprises a blend of all five single vineyards. The wine shows a little of all, and in so doing, some of none. There is the austerity of acidity and cavalcade of crushed, salted and pasted nuts, lemon zest, citrus oil and green leaves, coupled finally with the floral and tea-like notes evident in all five cuvées. It's an interesting composition, perhaps a little frenetic, like some of John Coltrane's work (Circle of Fifths is named after the jazz arrangement toward the circle of fifths root movement, whereas Coltrane's proclivity is in thirds, which is unusual. Giant Steps was named after Coltrane's studio album), but pleasurable in just the same way. In its way, this wine endorses and emphasizes the singularity of the single-vineyard wines, but it offers immense satisfaction of its own accord as well. 13% alcohol, sealed under screw cap.

93 POINTS

Angus Hughson - Vinous

The 2024 Chardonnay Circle of Fifths is perky, compact and precise, with a firm, tight core of melon and citrus. Nougat barrel ferment and oak spice just poke through. Chalky acidity frames the palate, while tense, fine-boned flavors are seamlessly balanced and maintain the wine's linear shape through a cylindrical finish of extreme length. A sleeper but worth waiting for.