Quealy Musk Creek Pinot Gris 2023

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. This site enjoys cooler conditions and ripens later than Tussie Mussie. It’s perched at 180-210 metres altitude atop Main Ridge. Here, it overlooks Western Port and the heads, and the persistent, cooling breeze from Bass Strait ensures the fruit maintains freshness. The site produces bunches of tiny pink berries with excellent acidity, resulting in a deeper, spicier, more complex and mineral gris. The fruit is always hand-harvested.

The ‘Alsatian-style’ press cycle is slow and long. Whole bunches are loaded and gently extracted over six hours to capture only the most delicate phenolics. The juice is then racked and mostly fermented (75%) in stainless steel, while the rest goes to French puncheons (10% new) for structure and complexity. There is no bâtonnage.