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If you ask Tom McCarthy to describe the difference between his Grigio and Gris, he'll tell you Quealy’s single-vineyard Pinot Gris comes from higher vineyards. This means the grapes need to be left on the vine to ripen into late autumn, and they produce headier, fuller-bodied wines. Conversely, the Grigio comes from the warmer Balnarring sites where the fruit is picked earlier and wines are racier.
This is 100% estate Mornington Pinot Gris sourced from basalt-derived volcanic soils in the Musk Creek vineyard. The dry-grown, own-rooted vines were planted in 1997 and enjoy a north-north-east aspect. Perched at 200 metres atop Main Ridge, it overlooks Western Port and the heads, and the persistent, cooling breeze from Bass Strait ensures the fruit maintains freshness. The bunches are tiny and pink with excellent acidity, and the resulting wine is deep, spicy and mineral.
The ‘Alsatian-style’ press cycle is slow and long (six hours), capturing only the most delicate phenolics. The juice is then racked and mostly fermented (80%) in stainless steel, while the rest goes to French puncheons (half of which were new) to build weight, structure and complexity. Stirring was kept to a minimum. It’s a riot of pink and red fruits with some wild honey, slicks of spice and minerality and a lengthy finish. Lovely weight too.