Quealy Wines Friulano 2021 (6 Bottles) Mornington Peninsula

$193.00 GST Included

AUSTRALIA WIDE SHIPPING INCLUDED

The variety behind some of northeast Italy’s most exciting whites, Friulano (née Tocai Friulano) first landed in Australia in the 1970s. Quealy sourced their cuttings from the vineyard of Slovenian émigré Denis Pasut in Mildura, grafting over a block of 1996 Chardonnay at their Balnarring vineyard as early as 2004. Above all, quality Friulano needs two things: low yields and lots of attention. “Friulano is a bugger to work with, but well worth the effort” notes Tom McCarthy. It is perhaps for these reasons the variety has yet to take off in Australia. Quealy manages yields at flowering—in effect halving the potential yields—and employs prudent canopy management to manage sun exposure.

The Friulano is all sourced from the organically certified winery vineyard in Balnarring. The fruit was handpicked on the 10th of April, grapes were destemmed into a cooled open vat and fermented on skins for 12 days. The wine was gently pressed and went through malo before resting on lees in a mixture of barrel and tank.

A more restrained expression than its 2019 predecessor, this is beautifully pitched with pure stone fruit and orange citrus flavours underpinned by refreshing minerality. There’s plenty of savoury flavour spliced throughout the textural weight, grippy structure and intensely concentrated fruit. It’s skinsy, salty and mineral with a perfumed lift and a charming almond skin finish. Very food friendly and very delicious—an excellent release.

“Fermented on skins for 12 days, aged 8 months in barrel. A savoury wine, even if there’s some stone fruit in the mix, yet mostly smoky and peppery with a whisper of lanolin. Full bodied, with a slippery, creamy texture and neat phenolics on the finish.” 92 points, Jane Faulkner,

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Description

This Pinot Noir vineyard was established by Doctors Campbell and Christine Penfold in 1994. In the 90s, new premium clones became available – slightly bigger, looser bunches that controlled vine vigour and ripened to effusive dark crimsons, indicating a great volume of tannin. The greatness of their vineyard stems from the clonal selection of MV6, 114 and 115 with the confluence of shallow, clay-rich soils in the warmer sub region of Balnarring.

Campbell & Christine Penfold’s vineyard is located on the coastal plain, 30 metres elevation behind Balnarring Village. The vineyard maturity is evident in the profound flavour of the wine. The soil is duplex; the top soil is a mixture of alluvial clay and the red soils washed down from the Red Hill above. This upper zone is quite shallow; underneath is a less permeable clay now broached by the roots of the mature vines. Irrigation is no longer or rarely necessary.

The vines are pruned to a single arch, minimizing vigour, reducing canopy size and forcing the grapes to ripen. The style of wine is very concentrated, masculine and satisfying for a Pinot Noir drinker.

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