2022 Giant Steps Sexton Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon

The 2022 season was high quality, but low yielding in the Yarra Valley. A very cool, wet and stormy spring resulted in some challenging conditions around flowering and hence very poor fruit set. The season proceeded to dry out into December, with a dry and warm Christmas period. This exacerbated the already small bunch weights, leading to bunches that weighed up to 40% lower than average. 

Three separate ferments were included in the final blend, each ferment was destemmed and cold soaked for 4 days before fermentation began. Soft extraction techniques were used for the early stages of fermentation to maintain whole berries before more aggressive techniques (plunging) were utilised towards the end of fermentation to increase tannin extraction. Each component completed malolactic fermentation and was maturated in small format (225lt) French oak barrels for 10 months before being blended and returned to seasoned puncheons for an additional 5 months to integrate before being bottled by gravity.