Kath Quealy was a Mornington Peninsula icon in winemaking circles, crafting some of this countries best Pinot Grigio. She was also a dab hand with Friulano, and this wine by Neil Prentice is named in her honour. It's designed as a textural experiment - a blend of grapes, mixed to provide tart fruit but weight on the palate. 3 of the grapes here are indigenous to Northern Italy, and don't see much airtime here in Australia, but tasting this you'd hope to see a little more Friulano around the place! The Picolit adds richness and depth. As such, it’s invitingly savoury, delivering a flavourful hit of ripe stone fruits effortlessly punctuated by refreshing acidity; it's as good and inviting as any white you've tasted.

Moondarra is the brainchild of Neil Prentice, one of Walhalla’s more eccentric winemakers. Not that eccentricity is by any means a bad thing in the wine industry; indeed, it is from the oddballs and lone voices that most of the interesting and groundbreaking produce of the wine world comes. To give you an example of Moondarra’s singular vision and sense of humour, just take a look at the name of their leading Pinot Noir - ‘Conception’ - so called, due to the fact that Prentice’s eldest son was conceived in the middle of the vineyard. Nice! It isn’t all jokes and oddities, though. Moondarra is a leading winery in the field of natural, zero intervention viticulture, and is blazing a trail throughout this scene due to the determination and dedication the vintners have; dedication for producing highly characterful wines packed full of features, which really could only come from this corner of the planet. Prentice and his brood proudly state that their vines have never seen a single chemical fertiliser, have never been irrigated, and are cropped and trimmed as infrequently as possible. Why? Because this winery is on a personal mission to produce wines which contain the very essence of the land the grapes are grown on, and are full of expression and unique features, with nothing lost along the way.