2024 Giant Steps Coal River Pinot Noir, Southern Tasmania

Giant Steps’ Coal River Valley Pinot Noir is from the Nocton vineyard, planted in 1999. I tasted this beside the Giant Steps Yarra Valley wines and my first words were: “Less floral, more fruit.” This brings the polish, the flavour, the seduction. It offers the freshest of red and black cherries with woodsmoke and cedar running through, a touch of mint maybe, semblances of undergrowth, gorgeous length, the tannin almost seeming to blossom itself. Beautiful wine. Complete.

95+ points Campbell Mattinson winefront.com.au

Giant Steps Coal River Pinot Noir from Southern Tasmania is a precise, finely etched expression that shows just how naturally Giant Steps’ philosophy translates to Tasmania’s cool, maritime conditions. Fruit is sourced from carefully selected vineyards in the Coal River Valley, one of the country’s most exciting Pinot regions, where low rainfall, cold nights and long ripening seasons deliver purity, perfume and natural structure. The soils are a mix of sandstone, dolerite and clay, giving the wine both delicacy and a subtle mineral tension. Winemaking mirrors the Yarra approach: hand harvesting, a portion of whole bunches for lift, wild fermentation and gentle maturation in French oak to frame rather than dominate the fruit.

The aromatics are beautifully lifted and detailed. Red cherry, wild strawberry and cranberry lead, followed by rose petal, dried raspberry and a hint of blood orange. Beneath the fruit sits a cool savoury edge of forest floor, dried herbs and crushed stone that immediately places the wine in Tasmania. With air, subtle spice, orange peel and a whisper of oak add further complexity without weight.

The palate is poised, silky and quietly powerful. Bright red fruits glide across fine, chalky tannins, supported by fresh acidity that gives the wine drive and length. Flavours of cherry skin, redcurrant and pomegranate unfold with restraint, finishing long and savoury with a mineral crunch that reflects the Coal River’s distinctive soils. It drinks beautifully now but has the balance to evolve over six to ten years, developing more earth, truffle and autumnal nuance.

An excellent match for roast duck, game birds, mushroom dishes, chargrilled salmon, beetroot based plates or soft, earthy cheeses. This is Tasmanian Pinot Noir with Giant Steps precision: elegant, restrained and deeply expressive of place.