Steve Flamsteed
A QUIET REVOLUTION
Multi-talented Steve Flamsteed has been leading a quiet revolution with his less-is-more winemaking approach. It’s a good thing his circus career didn’t work out.
Steve’s road to winemaker has been a fantastical journey of circus tricks, ski chalets and cheesemaking. It’s culminated – for now, at least – in the Yarra Valley. As Chief Winemaker at Giant Steps, one of Australia’s most progressive wineries, Steve is helping to guide a new generation of winemakers in hands-off winemaking that starts in the vineyard. And while he might shy away from the spotlight, there’s no hiding the influence he’s had on Australian wine.
THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED
For as long as he can remember, Steve has loved to cook. After school he left his regional hometown of Toowoomba in Queensland for the (relatively) big city of Brisbane and got a job as an apprentice chef. He became inspired by French cuisine, falling for the recipes, cheese and wine, so he jumped on a plane to Europe. But his plan to hop quickly to France from London changed and he spent a year working as a chef in the capital city.
This was the time Steve nearly ran away to join the circus. He had a passion for circus skills and trained hard in juggling, tightrope walking, unicycling and vaulting, becoming good enough to audition for the Russian Circus and apply for a French circus university. But ultimately it wasn’t to be. He worked at a French Alpine ski resort and on a cruise ship in Spain before heading to France’s Beaujolais wine region where he met an Australian winemaker who changed everything.
Dean Hewitson, now a renowned Barossa Valley winemaker, was working at the vineyard and winery of Jean de St. Charles. He took Steve under his wing and by the end of the month-long harvest, Steve had discovered a passion for winemaking. With new ambitions he returned to Australia and studied winemaking. His nomadic journey could easily have ended there – except that his love of food, and cheese in particular, was still calling.
‘Work with amazing fruit from amazing sites. Get the viticulture right, choose the right site and grow the right varieties there so that we don’t have to do a great deal in the winery.’
– Steve Flamsteed
ONCE MORE TO FRANCE
Steve won a Queen’s Trust Scholarship to study farmhouse cheesemaking in France and spent the next few years living the dream, bouncing between the winery, the creamery and the kitchen, before returning once more to Australia – this time to King Valley in Victoria’s High Country. Working as a cheesemaker, Steve met his wife Jane and together they had three children.
The final move saw Steve and his family head to the Yarra Valley – a place they now call home. As Chief Winemaker for Giant Steps since 2003, Steve crafts premium, regionally distinctive Australian wine that’s impressing the critics. In that time, Giant Steps wines have won 19 trophies and more than 50 gold medals in Australia and overseas, and for the past four years have been named one of the Top 100 Wineries in the World by Wine & Spirits Magazine in the US.
Steve’s minimal-intervention approach to winemaking starts in the vineyard, and he’s passionate about creating wines that reflect the unique sites where grapes are grown. At Giant Steps he’s leading the way for the next generation of winemakers in a place where his many talents are put to use. A place where all the pieces have come together.
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