The variety behind some of northeast Italy’s most exciting whites (see Felluga, Schiopetto et al.) Friulano (née Tocai Friulano) first landed in Australia in the 1970s. Quealy sourced their cuttings from the vineyard of Slovenian émigré Denis Pasut in Mildura, grafting over a block of their 1996 Chardonnay at their 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” notes Tom McCarthy.
Inspired by his father’s skinsy 2008 Claudius (under the T’Gallant label), and his time spent in Northern Italy, Tom McCarthy’s Turbul is a careful selection of the Estate’s ripest Friulano, fermented wild on skins in 800-litre terracotta amphorae. In 2020 the wine spent four months on skins without any SO2 addition and was stirred daily. The juice and skins were then basket-pressed at the end of winter (seeing just a smidgeon of sulphur here at four milligrams per litre) before being racked to used puncheons for a further 13 months maturation. It was bottled unfined and unfiltered.