Our Wine by Kev
[and friends]
McCarthy has a reputation for innovation and rebellion in wine. He rose to prominence alongside his partner introducing Pinot Grigio to Australia in the 1990s. Together they left to build Quealy Winemakers whilst he continued to work for Treasury Wine Estates. His numerous trips to Europe including Eastern Europe accelerated his knowledge of skin contact white wine and letting viticulture and winemaking hang out with reality and village culture. Grow it, make it and love the way it is.
Now we get to take a fresh look at Mildura through these eyes.
Kevin’s introduction to Mildura was the early '90s buying Sangiovese to fill his otherwise empty tanks from a disastrously small year on the Mornington Peninsula. Mildura is a region of vast untapped potential where wine can be imaginatively grown and made, where the natural bounty of the region can offer great wine and value for wine lovers. This is MDI.
Denis & Pauline
[Pasut Vineyard]
Visionaries Denis & Pauline Pasut have had skin in the game for more than two decades, growing staunch and serious vines of stature, born to balance Mildura crops. Drawing energy from a luxury of sun while drawing flavour and fortitude from the mineral rich limestone soil, the Pasuts and their vines are champions and proof of the long view. These are rows growing ripe with once overlooked varieties, at last in the limelight themselves, crucial players in creating the interesting, prestigious wines of Mildura.
The Chalmers
Family
A pivotal family to the renaissance of warm climate Australian wine, it’s hard to quantify the vision and technical skill of the Chalmers’ nursery operations.
The Chalmers family introduced the genetic material of Italian nursery Vivai Cooperativi Rauscedo (VCR) to Australia. Kev builds upon the Chalmers’ genius making skin contact low sulphur amber wines in the tiniest quantities (24 to 48 dozen). When these wines drop, be quick – they won’t be on the shelf for long.
Stef
You'll probably have heard of Stefano de Pieri, the Treviso-born chef who put Mildura on the modern map, culinarily speaking. Well, he’s our No1 ticket holder. Our biggest fan and support. It is worth the trip to Mildura just to eat at his establishment Stefano’s – paired with MDI, of course.
“I believe that a roving winemaker like Kevin can change the story. He’s a bit of an outsider, and outsiders often have the ability to see what the locals can't see, and that's a gift.
I hope that MDI's wines, brand and story will be a beacon of light for the region.
If Kevin can do it, we can do it.”
Winemaker Kev has skin in the contact game for decades. Not only does he bring serious chops to a method that is far more traditional than most know (while channelling direct learnings from northern Italian masters), Kev continues to land genuinely surprising drops through an endless array of esoteric grape varieties. MDI is wine from the edge, with each and every SKIN.ED edition following a taxonomy of roman numerals indicating the number of days those skins in play.
New wines dropping soon
Simply put, the Mildura region is not only a wonderful environment primed to produce wonderful, unexpected wine — it’s also a place of genuine spiritual and cultural importance to us. A world of zeal and interconnection between us locals and our friends over the oceans, all working to keep our diverse stories and traditions alive, together.
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