Quealy Winemakers

Quealy Winemakers, Balnarring, Mornington Peninsula

Nestled in its rustic setting, Quealy Winemakers offers its guests a truly authentic experience. Established in 2006 on the family property in Balnarring, it is owned by the husband-and-wife team, of Kevin McCarthy and Kathleen Quealy. Kathleen’s name is synonymous with wine making on the Mornington Peninsula; both as the original owner of T’Gallant from 1990 until 2006 and as the first person to plant pinot gris/grigio in the area.

Single vineyard expression of Pinot Noir and Pinot Gris are at the core of Quealy Winemakers. They currently lease premium sites with established vineyards at Campbell & Christie, Musk Creek, Tussie Mussie, Hester, and Vaughn. Indeed, including the vineyards at the winery, Quealy’s can boast of 2 hectares each of single vineyard Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and friulano, as well as smaller plots of Chardonnay, Riesling, Moscato Giallo, and more recently, Ribolla Gialla.

Kathleen and Kevin work with many Italian grape varieties, inspired by Kevin’s travels in Italy, and have developed a passion for skin contact wines. This is the practice of using white grape skins in the winemaking process. Friulano is ideal for this and was introduced to the winery vineyard in 2006, an Australian first.

Under the guidance of Kathleen and Kevin, and their son Tom who became the head winemaker in 2019, Quealy’s produce a range of wines including:

The range of wines include:

• Pinot Noir
• Pinot Gris
• Riesling
• Moscato
• Friulano
• Rose

Cellar Door

Quealy Winemakers cellar door takes you into the very heart of the winery, set amidst the barrels and terracotta amphora. It offers seated tastings for 1 to 6 guests and a typical tasting session runs for around 30 minutes.  Quealy have an online booking system and while the aren’t essential  they do recommend.

Wine Tasting and Cheese

Quealy’s does offer cheese plates for either 2 or 4 guests. With 3 cheeses, lavash and more included, as well as a complimentary wine tasting it is an ideal offering for peckish guests. The platters are priced reasonably at either $32 for 2 guests or $64 for 4 guests.