Although it was purchased in 2003, Quealy’s home vineyard was initially planted in 1982, making this Balnarring vineyard one of Mornington’s oldest Pinot Noir sites. From that era just 17 rows of MV6 Pinot Noir remain, gifting their old-vine fruit to Quealy’s flagship Pinot Noir. The entire vineyard is located on a gentle north-facing slope, on shallow loams over clay. From 2019 these vines have been certified organic. 

The 2019 was harvested on the 4th of March, entirely destemmed (with zero sulphur added) and wild-fermented in small, one-tonne pots. Only the free-run wine was settled and racked to 300-litre barriques (33% new) with the balance matured in equal proportions of one-year-old and two-year-old wood.

Seventeen Rows is Quealy’s most savoury and complex wine. It’s crammed with old-vine intensity and has serious structure; and dare we say it, it’s more Burgundian than the other Pinots in the range. A unique product of this site and these vines, the 2019 may look a little lighter in the glass, but looks can be deceiving. There is an earthy, savoury intensity here that comes from both the site and the age of the vines, a feature also evident on the palate—which has the kind of engaging old-vine creaminess, nuance and texture we don’t often see in Australian Pinots.