Giant Steps release first Bastard Hill wines

It’s fair to say it's been a whirlwind 33 months for Melanie Chester since she was appointed head of winemaking and viticulture at Giant Steps in 2021. In August 2023, she was promoted to general manager and head winemaker, and has recently been named a finalist for Winemaker of the Year in the 2025 Halliday Wine Companion Awards (stay tuned for all the results on August 7).

Gifted a great vintage to start her incumbency, Mel and Giant Steps didn’t miss a beat making several award-winning wines in 2022. The 2022 Tarraford Syrah (the first one made since 2018) and 2022 Sexton Cabernet (the first time a single-vineyard cabernet has been made from this vineyard) both picked up trophies for the best shiraz and best cabernet sauvignon, respectively, at last year’s Yarra Valley Wine Show.

Giant Steps' chief winemaker and general manager, Melanie Chester.

Given that pinot noir is the variety that Giant Steps built its reputation on, it is no surprise that their pinots have performed just as well. The 2022 Sexton Pinot Noir was named the grand champion wine of the show at last year's Royal Queensland Wine Show, and Giant Step’s 2022 Applejack Pinot Noir (98 points) was the pinot of the year at last year’s Halliday Wine Companion Awards. The same wine also took out the trophy for the best pinot noir at the National Wine Show earlier this year. You get the idea.

Giant Steps are just about to release their 2023s (on August 21). Apart from making another superb set of wines, the biggest story has been that this vintage marks the first release of two wines from the legendary Bastard Hill vineyard, which was acquired by Giant Steps in 2022.

The vineyard was founded by David Paxton and Ray Guerin – who moved from McLaren Vale to the Yarra in 1985 – to plant 20ha at 400 metres in Gladysdale for the production of sparkling wine. Making table wines from this ultra-cool site wasn’t on the radar, and it would be years before vineyards like Hoddles Creek (est. 1996), Applejack (planted in 1998 by Ray Guerin), and Lusatia Park (1985) would begin to make their mark by producing some of the Yarra’s most renowned single-vineyard chardonnay and pinot noir. 

Bastard Hill vineyard.

Although some noteworthy wines were made by Yarra Burn and Hardy’s, with the fruit being deemed good enough to be a component of Hardy’s flagship Eileen Hardy Chardonnay, by 2023 the vineyard had, sadly, fallen off the radar. And while Mel had heard a whisper that Bastard Hill was on the market, buying a new vineyard in the middle of her first vintage was not on the agenda. 

The whispers were true and, in April 2022, the vineyard was officially put on the market. By the end of August, Giant Steps had officially acquired what was now a 13ha vineyard planted to chardonnay and pinot noir. The first thing Mel and her vineyard team – headed by Ashley Wood and Scott Sharland – did was fence the vineyard to protect it from deer and pests. Given the steepness of the 32-degree slopes (amongst the steepest in the valley), a track tractor was bought especially to farm the vineyard. 

Since May this year, Giant Steps has started redeveloping sections by planting new rootstock and clones as well as upgrading the irrigation system. They are also just about to commence constructing a new onsite dam for long-term water security. Mel is in love with this remote, somewhat inhospitable site and thinks the chardonnay may even end up being the jewel in the Giant Steps chardonnay crown. 

If the 2023, and a sneak peek of the 2024 out of barrel, are anything to go by, I totally agree. As I wrote in my review of the 2023 Chardonnay: “...this concentrated yet light on its feet wine is reminiscent of good Corton-Charlemagne.” I liked the 2023 Pinot Noir, too, and it’s not surprising, given the site, that this supremely perfumed wine is driven as much by its fine vein of acidity as its silken tannins.

The 2023 Giant Steps wines will be available from August 21, 2024. Visit giantstepswine.com.au.

Bastard Hill vineyard image credit: Annika Kafcaloudis.