Displaying 2351 - 2375 of 24176
Score
Giant Steps
2018 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com

A very attractive, succulent style with intense and energetic white-peach and lemon aromas and flavors. The drive and depth on the palate really impress here. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Giant Steps
2018 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion

Identical vinification to its siblings, the intention to place all the emphasis on the site, including its micro-flora. A wine with substance and depth, and a (non-residual sugar) touch of fruit sweetness. I am confident that the individual personality of each sibling will express itself more and more over the next 2 years.

Giant Steps
2018 Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion

Tarraford Vineyard is located in a small valley that provides protection and a cooler site climate than adjacent parts of the Yarra Valley floor, with consequently higher natural acidity than any of its siblings (7.6g/l). The vinification remains identical. deliberately leaving the minerally shell intact.

Giant Steps
2018 Applejack Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points Nick Stock, JamesSuckling.com

Apples and honeydew melon with pie crust and poached pears in a fresh, attractive mode. The palate has a smooth, evenly paced and sleek feel. Polished texture and good depth of fresh white peaches and pears. Drink or hold. Screw cap.

Giant Steps
2018 Syrah Yarra Valley
95 Points Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast Magazine Editors' Choice

A deep well of aromas fill this wine: plum, cherry, cocoa nibs, rose, violets, earthy herbs, baked clay and a charred note, like the pan scrapings of a roast. The palate is velvety and downright sexy, with spicy tannins and terracotta components adding complexity and austerity to the plush, almost playful fruit. It shows a power play of muscle and elegance. Drink now with a slab of charred red meat or age through 2030.

Giant Steps
2019 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com

This has a savory, crushed stone edge to the nose with fresh pastry, as well as white peaches, lemon pastry and hazelnuts with honeysuckle and citrus blossom. The palate has an alluring density that holds very long into the peach, lemon and pastry-flavored finish. A spark of zesty lemon to close. Drink or hold.

Giant Steps
2018 Tarraford Vineyard Syrah
95 Points Nick Butler, The Real Review, AUS

A spicy mix of red and purple berries, cinnamon and oak-char, cinnamon spiced red plums. There's a lifted red-cherry note to the palate, energy and vigour, pinot-esque in its agility. Delicious and lithe. Masterful winemaking.

Giant Steps
2018 Tarraford Vineyard Syrah
95 Points Joe Czerwinski, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Yarra Valley Shiraz tends to be overlooked in favor of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but wines like the 2018 Tarraford Vineyard Syrah should begin to change the public's impression. There are only 450 cases of this beauty, but it should be on the shortlist for Syrah lovers the world over. Intoxicating aromas of violets, cracked pepper and fresh blueberries lead into a medium to full-bodied palate that feels almost Pinot-silky but with great depth and richness and a complex, lingering finish. Approachable now, it should drink well for at least a decade. Exciting stuff at an incredible price!

Giant Steps
2018 Tarraford Vineyard Syrah
95 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion

50/50% Blocks 4 and 5, vinified separately. Block 4 was created from the original planting of Block 5 that included the Red Dog clone. The Block 5 ferment was 100% whole bunches, the bunches removed, destemmed and returned, Block 4 was 100% destemmed and given 7 days post-ferment maceration. It's a wine with intensity and extreme complexity, a long future ahead.

Giant Steps
2019 Primavera Vineyard Pinot Noir
95 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review, AUS

Light red colour with the merest tinge of purple. The bouquet is lightly spicy, meaty and somewhat charcuterie-like, bresaola rather than prosciutto. The wine has weight and grip beyond what its colour implies. A very smart pinot, with a fruit-sweet core as well as charm and complexity. Delicious.

Giant Steps
2019 Applejack Vineyard Pinot Noir
95 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review, AUS

Medium to light red/purple hue, the aroma fusty, earthy, forest floor, a note of oak and a touch of humus. Very rich and ripe, almost opulent flavour with charming fruit sweetness and a succulent core. A delicious wine.

Giant Steps
2019 Ocarina Clay Ferment Chardonnay
95 Points Mike Bennie, The Wine Front

All the Giant Steps single vineyard chardonnay is found in this wine. A combo. The wine is fermented and rested in 600 litre clay egg vessels. Cool. But we’ve been here before. Giant Steps’ winemaker Steve Flamsteed puts very little feet wrong in his quarry. This is another wine to keep his (Flamsteed’s) brain ticking, while delighting and audience no doubt. This one is right on the pace of the 2018. A multi-dimensional chardonnay of easy pleasure but lots of fine detail. There’s a slickness but also light chew to the wine, concentration of flavour is pronounced but acidity is too, lifting the wine and keeping all that green apple, faint cookie dough and citrusy zing all integrated and brought precisely and compact across the palate. There’s a sense of general ‘purity’ too, though a quiet, yeasty savouriness might pop question marks up around that statement. It’s a wonderful chardonnay, character-filled, delicious, just shy of medium weight, bright and vivacious. You’d do well getting into this.

Giant Steps
2019 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review, AUS

Light, bright yellow hue, with cashew nut, preserved lemon and toasted almond notes in its fresh, youthful bouquet. In the mouth, it's restrained and crisp, youthfully refined, restrained and undeveloped. Oak has been sensitively used. Traces of toasted hazelnuts emerging on palate. An attractive wine, with potential.

Giant Steps
2019 Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay
95 Points Mike Bennie, The Wine Front

The One That Goes All Minerally. Huge mineral feel, indeed, you’d paste this into the section under ‘Wine; Minerality’ in an encyclopaedia. All pebbles and talc in perfume, sure, some citrus, citrus blossom, faint bread dough notes, but you’re drawn to the flint and element rocky notes primarily. The palate does the same, flint, wet slate, smooth pebbles rolled around the palate, olive brine, green apple juice and lime comes in too. Feels quite firm despite a sense of juiciness and being dart-shaped and long. Finishes with the faintest kiss of salted nuttiness. Just beautiful. Poised and fine.

Giant Steps
2018 Syrah Yarra Valley
95 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion

A particularly expressive shiraz with interleaving, luscious purple/dark red fruits with classy ripe tannins. Drink now or in 20 years, or any time in between.

Giant Steps
2019 LDR Pinot Noir Syrah
95 Points James Halliday, Halliday Wine Companion

Hand-picked, wild yeast, co-fermented in small open fermenters with 50% whole bunches, matured for 5 months in large French oak vats. A very cleverly made wine (in terms of preplanning) that is yet another example of the intrinsic worth of this blend, red and black cherry, spice and pepper all held in a fine net of tannins.

Giant Steps
2019 Chardonnay Yarra Valley
95 Points Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast Magazine #24 Top 100 Enthusiast Wines for 2020

The latest vintage of this noteworthy producer's Chardonnay is singing. A harmonious, multifaceted nose offers notes of bright citrus, fresh melon and flowers, while a chorus of sun-baked stones and freshly baked bread linger behind. Beautifully textural and salty on the palate, it crunches with minerals and vibrant fruit. The oak is tucked away and the finish long and salty. Drink now–2030.

Brewer-Clifton
2018 Machado Pinot Noir
95 Points Erin Brooks, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2018 VintageThe 2018 Pinot Noir Machado has a medium ruby color and deep, layered aromas of pure violet, garrigue, laurel, aniseed and forest floor, seamlessly accenting a core of black and red berries. The palate is medium-bodied with loads of lift and silkiness, elegantly fruited and with a long, ethereal finish.

Brewer-Clifton
2018 Julia's Pinot Noir
95 Points Erin Brooks, Robert Parker Wine Advocate

USA, California, Central Coast: The 2018 Vintage"We made this from 1997-2000," says winemaker Greg Brewer. "In 2001 we went purely Sta. Rita Hills and stopped making this. Now, with the acquisition by Jackson Family Wines, we have been able to revisit some cuvées." The 2018 Pinot Noir Julia's has a medium ruby color and savory charcuterie, aniseed, smoked blackberries, laurel and potpourri on the nose. The medium-bodied palate has a dichotomy of earthy bass tones and bright, juicy, crunchy fruits in a finely grained frame, and it finishes long and nuanced. This small cuvée of 96 cases has a touch more power and oomph than the rest of the lineup this vintage and is immediately accessible, although it will continue to age well in bottle.

Brewer-Clifton
2018 Machado Pinot Noir
95 Points Doug Wilder, Purely Domestic Wine Report

The nose is dense black plum, blueberry and licorice with a palate entry of tobacco, herb and juniper. The core is bright and vibrant with youthful mouth-coating acidity. Decant or cellar. Drink 2022 - 2032.

Mt. Brave
2016 Merlot Mt. Veeder
95 Points Robert Whitley, Arcamax

The Mt. Veeder vineyards that face east are typically firmer in structure and slightly more tannic than the reds produced across the valley in the west-facing mountains. This vintage from Mt. Brave is rich and powerful, with firm tannins and a tight structure that will benefit from another few years in the cellar. It shows ripe notes of cherry and currant, a touch of graphite/lead pencil and the requisite wood spice.

Hickinbotham
2017 Brooks Road Shiraz
95 Points Christina Pickard, Wine Enthusiast Magazine Cellar Selection, #71 Top 100 Cellar Selections 2020

Thanks in part to the relatively cool year, this is a wine that manages refinement, restraint and beautiful expression of place. The nose is a neatly woven basket of aromas: crushed flowers, red and blue fruit, pepper, mint and cigar box. The palate is full figured and highly textural. There’s a line of powdery, spicy, ultrafine tannins and a streak of high-end oak. Set up for a long life, drink from 2022–2045 at least.

Brewer-Clifton
2018 Machado Pinot Noir
95 Points Kim Marcus, Wine Spectator

Complex, with lithe minerality and rich savoriness to the concentrated raspberry, red plum and currant flavors, backed by crunchy acidity. Delicate and well-spiced on the pure-tasting finish. Drink now through 2026.

Hickinbotham
2015 The Revivalist Merlot
95 Points Jane Faulkner, Halliday Wine Companion

While this has structure, depth and a certain power, it's also finely crafted and elegant. Excellent colour, savoury yet a whisper of florals and dark fruit, cassis among the oak spice, dried herbs and black olives. Fuller bodied and expansive tannins with an appealing Amaro like finish. Not quite tamed, only time can do that.

Hickinbotham
2015 Trueman Cabernet Sauvignon
95 Points Huon Hooke, The Real Review, AUS

Very deep, bright red/purple colour, with a superbly ripe, fruit-driven bouquet displaying ripe mulberries and blackberries, with traces of raspberry and violets - and barely a glimpse of leafy pyrazines, although the ripe fruit conveys undeniable cabernet varietal character. The palate is medium to full-bodied and firm of tannin, a thread of sinew, with all things in perfect balance. Superb cabernet.