There is cloudy, and then there is Quealy. You don’t need us to tell you that Kevin McCarthy and Kathleen Quealy wrote the first chapter on skin-contact wine in Australia. Some 16 years ago, following McCarthy’s 2006 visit to Joško Gravner, the pair released Claudius, a delicious skinsy blend of Chardonnay, Traminer and Moscato Giallo under the T’Gallant label. It was an audacious move at the time, and although the wine has become something of a legend since, like most things ahead of the curve, the wine was poorly understood—even if, for many, it was a revelation. Of course, proper skin-contact wine–the really good stuff—is far better understood and appreciated today than it was 16 years ago. The one thing that has not changed is that the Quealy clan are still at the vanguard. Tom McCarthy picked up the baton in 2011 with his Turbul Friulano, the name taken from the Friulian word for cloudy (from the Latin turbidus). And it’s kinda snowballed from there. Underpinned by his working friendship with Friuli winemaker Nikolas Juretic and study trips to Damijan Podversic and Gravner, the Turbul range has grown to a quartet comprising northern Italian all-stars: Friulano, Ribolla Gialla, Moscato Giallo and Malvasia Istriana. While the Friulano was sourced from Denis Pasut in Mildura, cuttings for the new vines were sourced from Chalmers and planted in the organic soils at the Balnarring home estate between 2014 and 2018. Healthy skins are essential to succeed with this kind of wine, and the Quealy family’s meticulous work in the vineyard delivers in this respect. Yet McCarthy explains the skins are not the whole ballgame. “These are textural white wines,” he explains. “Skin contact has a big influence, but the time element is just as important. Time allows the structure to resolve back into the wine. The skins are a component of these wines but by no means the defining feature.” Tom ferments the fruit on skins for lengthy periods, with plenty of exposure to oxygen andno additions until after the wine is pressed. “Time and tannin give the wine stability, which allows us to keep sulphur to a bare minimum,” he told us. There’s considerable jeopardy in getting this unique style just right. It takes a great deal of skill and patience, starting with selecting and growing perfect grapes, and no one in Australia does it better than Tom McCarthy. A deep understanding of this ancient style and the culture behind it underscores these daring, complex wines. They are also enormously rewarding to drink, especially at the table when their versatility and structure come into their own, but also for after-dinner drinks as the aromas and textures oscillate long into the night. We hope the notes do them justice! P.S. Please see the appendix at the foot of the offer for a deeper dive into the grape varieties. And, head’s up, quantities are very limited. For example, just 280 bottles of the Moscato Giallo were made. Blink and you might miss them. Reach out to your rep if you would like to taste the range. Appendix: Malvasia Istriana Malvasia Istriana is widely planted throughout the Istria Peninsula, located at the head of the Adriatic Sea, with a coastline shared by Italy, Croatia and Slovenia. It’s one of many varieties termed as Malvasia grown throughout the Mediterranean, though genetic connection and origin can vary widely from region to region. Istriana has been shown to have no genetic link to the more famous Malvasia Bianco group but is genetically close to Malvasia di Lipari found in Sicily. In the vineyard, Istriana buds and matures mid-season―providing some protection from early frosts―and gives big bunches of golden-hued, thick-skinned, plump, juicy grapes. Ribolla Gialla Ribolla Gialla is native to Collio and Slovenia’s Brda, where it’s known as Rebula. Plantings are rarely seen outside of the Friuli-Veneto region and neighbouring Slovenia. The most famous expressions hail from Oslavia, where Joško Gravner has forged a formidable, iconic global reputation on the back of his extended maceration Ribolla wines. It’s a naturally vigorous variety and requires control in the vineyard to keep yields in check. The skins are thick and rich in colour and polyphenols, making them ideal for skin-contact styles. Moscato Giallo Moscato Giallo is a historical variety mostly grown in Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli nowadays. Buds burst mid-season, and ripening occurs early to midway through the period. The bunches are large and loose, with thick, hardy skins and deep, yellow-coloured berries. In the vineyard, canopy management is critical to controlling its vigorous tendencies. As with most members of the Moscato family, you can expect vibrant aromatics and ripe, sunny flavours. Friulano Unsurprisingly, Friulano is a variety most closely associated with the Friuli region of northeast Italy. The variety was known as Tocai Friulano until 2007 when, after decades of protest from Hungary’s Tokaj region, the EU decreed that Tocai be dropped from the labels. Several producers, including Radikon, have used the term ‘jakot’ (Tokaj backwards) on their Friulano labels as a cheeky protest. Plantings are prevalent in neighbouring Slovenia, but the variety is scarce outside these regions. Friulano buds late and ripens early and, as with the other varieties, has vigorous tendencies requiring strict management in the vineyard to keep yields in check. Unlike the others, Friulano has comparatively thin skin, though it lends itself well to on-skin maturation and extended aging.