96 points“Tightly wound, this is driven as much by the wine’s very bright acidity as its superfine tannins.”– Philip Rich (Halliday Wine Companion)
Bastard Hill lives up to its name – steep, wild, and hard-earned – but the results in 2024 are anything but brutish. This high-elevation site, planted by Ray Guerin in the 1980s and now handled with precision by Mel Chester and the Giant Steps team, continues to reveal its class.After years of cool, low-yielding vintages, 2024 brought more typical Yarra conditions – consistent warmth, solid crops, and a fast, focused harvest. For Bastard Hill, it meant a more compact, perfumed expression of Pinot: layered and detailed, but with a core of presence that sets it apart.Handpicked and destemmed, the wine was fermented in open oak vats, clone by clone, before spending 10 months in French oak (20% new). The result is lifted and aromatic with rosehip, blood orange, bergamot and framed by fine, savoury tannin.Still young and tightly coiled, this is a site with altitude, attitude and serious potential. In 2024, Bastard Hill is one of the more limited of the Single Vineyard Pinots from Giant Steps.
96 points“This is pinot noir of ethereality and perfume, transparency and fine detail; a wine of shapely dark fruit, balletic flow and intricately woven tannins.”– Nick Ryan (Top 100 Wines of 2025)
