“People get quite anxious about wine, and a lot of people want to try, particularly, this new world of skin-contact wine,” says MDI Wine co-founder Celia McCarthy. “Everybody wants to dip a toe in, but they’re not quite sure where to start.”
Celia would know far more about wine than the average person – it’s her family legacy. Her parents, Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy, are two of the most significant winemakers in Australia. The couple founded T’Gallant on the Mornington Peninsula in 1990, where they introduced an entire generation to pinot gris/grigio.
After selling to Treasury Wines, they established Quealy Wines on the Peninsula in 2006, which today is directed by Celia’s brother, Tom McCarthy. MDI Wine, a new range of skin-contact drops, is the latest family project, co-founded by Celia and Kevin. The idea was to create a skin-contact wine that’s clean and accessible – and tastes great.
“Mum and Dad have always been at the at the forefront of skin-contact wine and what people call natural wine,” Celia tells Broadsheet. “We thought there was a space that hadn’t been properly done for very well-made skin-contact wine in a really approachable way.”
Sometimes known as “orange wine” or fermented white wine, the skin-contact winemaking process sees the grapes left in contact with their skins for days or even months, a method more typical of red wines. “There’s a lot of really crazy and wild skin-contact wine being made, which some people are very scared of,” Celia says. “The idea was something a bit more approachable and a bit more fun, that really just talked more to the enjoyment of wine.”
The brand’s name comes from MMMDI, the Roman numerals for 3501. It’s the postcode of Mildura, the region where the grapes are harvested. Kevin first became familiar with the place in the ’90s after a difficult growing year on the Mornington Peninsula. It’s also the location of dining institution Stefano’s, owned by chef Stefano de Pieri, who helped inspire and support the project.
“Stefano, up in Mildura, asked me to make a skin-contact wine for him in 2017 and I was quite reticent. I had never made a wine like that out of Mildura,” Kevin recalls. “We’d done the Mornington Peninsula, and we said, ‘Okay, let’s give it a go.’ And that gave us the confidence to then go to the next step, which was MDI.”
Launched in 2021 with just a single wine, the range has expanded to 12 drops, from a pinot grigio and rosé to the golden coloured ansonica and dark red refosco. The project has been a freeing experience for both Kevin and Celia, with the pair changing up the range and giving any grape a go. “Everything we’re making is the smallest of batches we’ve got – some of them are just cases,” Celia says. “We’re not talking pallets. We’re talking a barrel.”
That same unconventional attitude extends to the label’s cellar door. Rather than being situated in a vineyard, it’s at Fitzroy’s At The Above – the concept gallery by design studio Space Between. The gallery and studio’s founders, Dave Clark and Tyson Stenglein, are behind MDI’s eye-catching label designs, often incorporating artworks being exhibited in the space.
The inner-city location allows locals to pop in for weekend wine tastings and has also created some exciting cross-over opportunities. Just last year, Troye Sivan’s fragrance label Tsu Lange Yor had its launch party in the space, with MDI on pour.
“There’s not high risks, there’s not all this pressure,” Celia says. “It’s very much a creative project [and] we’re just trying to connect with the right people who want to drink it or sell it or taste it.”
“You just don’t think about it, it’s just wine,” Kevin adds. “That’s how we make it.”
“It is a good way to think about it,” Celia concludes. “It’s just wine and it’s just delicious.”
This article first appeared in Domain Review, in partnership with Broadsheet.
