This year’s Balnarring Pinot Grigio is drawn from the Hester and Campbell & Christine vineyards. Both sites are organically managed and lie less than three kilometres from the winery, where the fruit arrives within an hour of picking. The grapes were picked by hand on 14th and 15th March and pressed as bunches. The Quealy team use only the most delicate portion of the press cycle, meaning the juice yield per tonne tends to be extremely low. The juice is left to settle overnight without sulphuring. In the morning, the wine is racked off its gross lees and left to begin spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel. After primary fermentation, malolactic conversion ensues before naturally stopping due to the winter temperatures. The wine is sulphured and bottled unfiltered.
As has been the case for a few years now, the 2024 season was marked by poor flowering and low yields of intensely concentrated, healthy fruit. It’s a wonderfully perfumed release, just teeming with apples, pears, blossoms and delicate spice. The texture is spot-on, too, with mineral tension, svelte phenolic grip and juicy, crunchy fruit all working in harmony.