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The variety behind some of northeast Italy’s most exciting whites, Friulano (formerly Tocai Friulano) landed in Australia in the 1970s. Quealy sourced its cuttings from the Mildura vineyard of Slovenian émigré Denis Pasut, grafting over a block of 1996 Chardonnay at the family’s Balnarring vineyard as early as 2003. 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,” as Tom McCarthy eloquently puts it.
Inspired by his father’s skinsy 2008 Claudius (under the T’Gallant label) and his time in northern Italy, Tom McCarthy’s Turbul is a careful selection of the estate’s ripest Friulano, spontaneously fermented on skins in 800-litre terracotta amphorae.
2023 was a fantastic vintage for this style. The bunches were hand-selected and destemmed into terracotta. The wine was plunged daily until the end of the fermentation and stirred every few weeks until it was basket-pressed on the first day of spring. No additions were made until a small pinch of SO2 after pressing. The wine matured in seasoned French puncheons for 18 months with no stirring. It was racked and bottled in late February 2025.