Here’s a wine that would deliver something pretty close to the white burgundy experience for a fraction of the price of a white burgundy. The Yarra Valley, outside Australia’s food-and-drink capital Melbourne, has long been proud of its Chardonnays (and Pinot Noirs). All the fruit, which comes from various vineyards all over the valley, at least half from the higher Yarra ranges, and many of them good enough to provide fruit for Giant Steps’ range of single-vineyard Chardonnay bottlings, is hand-picked. It’s cooled overnight and then whole-bunch pressed, slowly and cool, the next day before being put into barrel that same day with full solids. Spontaneous fermentation in puncheons (15% new) follows, with a little SO2 added after about seven days. Only about 10% of the wine is allowed to go through malolactic conversion and the wine is blended and bottled in October, seven months after the last grape was picked. The wines are just 12.5% alcohol but are packed with delicate fruit, refreshing acidity and, like all Giant Steps wines, are characterised by extremely long finishes. Although the 2021 is obviously 12 months older than the 2022, I thought the wines were at very similar stages of evolution, both of them delicious to drink now but with another four or five years’ development ahead of them (a pretty good prospect for this price level). I tasted both within days of tasting Giant Steps’ single-vineyard Chardonnays and, while I think the latter will have a longer life than these less expensive blends, the regular Yarra Valley Chardonnays seem absolutely brilliant value to me.

An even split of upper and lower Yarra fruit. Whole-bunched pressed and wild fermented in 15% new French puncheons. Around 5% mlf. A light, bright green gold. Pure fruited with an attractive nose of just ripened orchard and stone fruits, pink grapefruit and orange blossom. A hint of matchstick and just-baked ginger snaps. Concentrated and lithe at the same time, Giant Step's calling card is just as good, if not better than the super 2021 release.

A blend of the individual vineyard releases – Sexton, Tarraford, Applejack, Primavera and Wombat Creek – with a little more input besides. It gets “the Rolls Royce treatment” and then it’s blended to become this. Grilled almonds and peaches with wet stones and runs of citrus. Beautiful (creamy) texture, flavour and composure. The elegance of this, the exotic wet stone notes, the smoky push on the finish. It’s all pretty much into wow territory.This is a gorgeous release, essence of chardonnay, scores schmores, buy and drink.

Made mainly from WA's Gingin clone and planted in Gruyere on the same grey clay as Applejack. Whole bunches pressed into French puncheons with 20% new oak. Smells tightly wound and concentrated with aromas of ripe peach and nectarine, together with just a hint of lanolin and apple custard. Equally powerful and punchy on the palate. This has more of everything, including sprightly acid and some phenolic grip on the very long, stone-fruit pithy finish. Today, this is my pick of the 4 single-vineyard 2021 chardonnays, but who knows what will come out on top in 5 or even 10 years from now!

This is made with fruit from the Sexton Vineyard, at 200 meters in altitude (80 meters higher than Tarraford). Within the vineyard, the clones are dominated by Gingin (brought over to Victoria by Phil Sexton), followed by Dijon clones, planted in the 1990s. The 2021 Sexton Vineyard Chardonnay is composed of 60% Gingin. Twenty percent of the parcels went through malolactic fermentation—clone 277 and some of the 96. This is salty as anything—a very good thing in my book—and the sheer intensity of flavor in the mouth is mouthwatering. Preserved lemon and grapefruit pith lace the edges of the mid-palate. Very smart—it has the Yarra precision of acid and streamlined phenolics, but it brings concentration of flavor and thrilling phenolics. Super smart wine.

A rich and textural chardonnay with tons of ripe pear fruit and floral complexity. On the concentrated palate this has a serious tannin structure and a bright mineral acidity that interlocks very neatly. Long, generous and complete finish

This seemed ultra-reserved in the context of the Tarraford, which I’d tasted immediately prior. Citrus here and red apple, with pear, the citrus both pure juice and preserved. Oak spice, and custard powder characters, are so well threaded, ginger nut/biscuit aspects rising through the finish. World apart from the Tarraford; perfect pigeon pair. The longer it sat in the glass the more those complex, juicy, apple-like characters blossomed, marzipan with them, nectarines squeezed with salted lemons. This is a wine of tight, complex power, the fruit pure and commanding, the finish taut but persistent.

A trace of smoky, toasted timber leads into a restrained and quite delicate wine with properly dry balance and some length. It looks to need a bit more time. Refreshing lemony finish. Tense and coiled and ready to unfold more in time.

Vineyard planted with a mix of clones (but mainly Gingin and Mendoza) in 1997 at 130–210 m at Gruyere on grey clay/loam over granite/ironstone on north-facing slopes. Hand-picked in February with Giant Steps, for whom this vineyard is regarded as the best, reporting 2021 was 'a spectacular year with every block and clone contributing to the final blend'. Whole bunch pressed, juice transferred to barrel by gravity with no settling. Fermented in 500-l French puncheons. A small amount of bâtonnage and 20% malolactic conversion. Aged for 10 months in French oak (20% new). Being on the higher slopes, topsoil is thin and root systems have established themselves in shallow gravelly loams above a tough rocky clay base. Bunch yields are naturally low and skins are thick. Complete nose with both minerals and citrus notes plus a hint of apple blossom. Still quite youthful but very promising. Markedly persistent with marked acidity but no shortage of fruit. Not austere but very far from fat. Neat and quite delicate. Fans out on the finish. They must be very pleased with this wine, from a hugely successful vintage.

I met with Steve Flamsteed and new Giant Steps winemaker Mel Chester last week to taste through the 2021 Single Vineyard releases and wow, what a range of wines. Everything was excellent but this Tarraford was really up and about on the day. I’ll post my chardonnay reviews in order of altitude or ‘meters above sea level’. Tarraford is the lowest of them, and each from there is about 50 metres higher. Sweet oak into white stonefruit, citrus and apple, grapefruit. Powerful from the outset. Hand picked, whole bunch pressed, full solids for all of the single vineyard releases. A bit of mlf for all of them too. This is in impeccable – not to mention incredible – shape. Controlled. Powerful. Tarraford should be the most rich, for site and aspect, but it’s so taut, almost salty in its savouriness. Cracking wine. The ‘loudest’ of the single vineyards in that it brings the flavour but simultaneously so very, very good.

The 2021 Tarraford Vineyard Chardonnay comes from the Tarraford Vineyard—it is the most northerly vineyard in the collection and is planted to the P58 clone, planted in the 1980s. The fruit was originally intended as sparkling base and was being sold to Chandon. The fruit now goes solely toward table wine Chardonnay, and in this case, we are able to see for potential in the glass than merely sparkling base. This is a south-facing vineyard in a warmer area in the Yarra, which brings an attractive combination of streamlined linearity and a fine, mineral, nutty, briney character. In the mouth, the wine cascades across the palate, leaving a trail of white flowers, pink grapefruit and the faintest sense of caper brine through the finish. Very cool.

The warmest site of the 4 Giant Steps single-vineyard chardonnays, but planted on a south-facing slope in Tarrawarra. As with all of them, this was whole-bunch pressed and barrel fermented 15% new French puncheons). A fuller, bright, green gold. Quite restrained with aromas of stone fruits, oatmeal and a little wet rock. I like both the intensity and restraint on the palate and this may, paradoxically, need the longest of the 4 single-vineyard 2021 chardonnays to open up.

This Yarra Valley chardonnay marries creaminess and lemony freshness with a flinty tension giving it a wonderful energy on the focused full-bodied palate. Positive tannins anchor it at the long, positively dry finish.

A 50/50% mix of upper and lower Yarra fruit. Fermented with mainly whole berries and matured in French oak (10% new). A bright ruby crimson. Expressive with aromas of satsuma plums, strawberry coulis, fennel seeds and a hint of star anise. With its core of ripe yet well-delineated fruit and firm-ish, balanced tannins, this is more concentrated and muscular than the 2021. It will age well, too, for those that find themselves with a bottle seven to 10 years from now.

2022 was a low-yield year in the Yarra. There were less whole bunches employed than usual in this 2022 because – there being so much less fruit on each bunch – it seemed like the judicious thing to do. I didn’t take a great many notes here on the basis that it’s just so straight-up enjoyable. It’s ultra fresh, savoury and spicy with cooling Campari-like herbs, strawberries and cherries, with those slightly (positive) bitter-herb notes continuing on through the finish. It has good concentration and structure, and presumably will age well, though its appeal right now is obvious. Go now, I’d say. And go well. This is a) complex, b) fresh, and c) beautiful.

Sourced from vineyards across the Yarra Valley with 50% from the upper Yarra ranges. Hand-picked grapes are chilled overnight before being either fermented as 100% whole bunches or 100% destemmed with whole berries. The whole-bunch portions have a warm start to fermentation, with minimal mixing throughout the start of fermentation to promote carbonic maceration conditions. These ferments are then left for up to 21 days on skins before pressing. The destemmed and whole-berry batches are held cold at 4 °C for four days before the ferment is allowed to heat up and start fermentation naturally with indigenous yeasts. Cold soaked for three days, then allowed to warm in small open fermenters in order to kick-start ambient-yeast fermentation. Parcels are matured in French oak (10% new) for eight months. Blended in October and then bottled by gravity without fining or filtration in November. Pale garnet. Sweetly fruity without excess oak or alcohol and, just, enough acidity. Really quite delicate. And with impressive persistence. Superior Australian Pinot which may not last as long as the single-vineyard bottlings but is a great buy for short-term drinking.

From the Primavera vineyard at Woori Yallock, planted in 2001 on the same red soil as Wombat Creek. Both destemmed (55%) and whole-bunch components. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. A very bright crimson purple. So pure and perfumed with briary cherries, ripe redcurrants and freshly cut roses. Poised, juicy and energetic, the wine has so much tang and crunch, you barely notice that this is also structured finishing with long, gently puckering tannins. A wine with immediate appeal, but also one that will reward at least another 7-10 years in the cellar.

Down the hill by approximately 100 meters from the Wombat Creek Vineyard and planted on the same deep red basalt, the 2021 Primavera Vineyard Pinot Noir was made with 50% to 60% whole bunch and constructed from clones MV6 and 115. It is the leanest note of all of the wines in this collection, but my favorite wine: crunchy, strawberry, red apples, cranberry, redcurrant, red cherry...and abundance of red. The fruit is open and seductive, but it has a gentle herbal edge, like rose petals (specifically David Austin's Boscobel rose), musk sticks and Turkish delight. This is satisfying. Fleshy. Plump. Beautiful.

Red-fruited, nutty, almost raspberry, pomegranate aspects, pips, florals, star anise. It seems slight and lifted, strict and precise, on the whole, but its exuberant fragrance and that slight sweetness to the fruit helps promote an impression of generosity. Talc-powdery, ultra-fine grained, velour tracksuit-esque tannin is another high quality marker, as are the whispers of stalk and briar. This is from a vineyard planted by Lou Primavera 25 years ago at Woori Yallock. Excellent release, no question.

Medium red-purple, bright colour; pronounced spicy, floral and dark-cherry aromas with a lick of smart oak; the palate is rich and full in profile, with abundant softly drying tannins and a bold, up-front structure. A generous pinot, of focused intensity and a long carry. It's refined and aromatic but also powerful, a wine of considerable charm. (Woori Yallock, 230m alt, 35 barrels made)

There’s a very approachable feel to this pinot, with aromas of blueberries, blackcurrants and sweet hard spices, such as star anise. The palate has a polished feel, with a plush texture and a plump blueberry and black-cherry core. Drink over the next six years.