MDI (Murray Darling Italy) is the passion project of winemaker Kevin McCarthy and grower Denis Pasut, a native Friulian who has been farming grapes in the Mildura region for more than two decades. McCarthy has built a reputation for pioneering work with field blends and skin contact, and MDI is his vehicle for challenging perceptions about what the Murray Darling can produce. Working with the crew at Chalmers, the project is rooted in a belief that the region is untapped and brimming with potential: sunshine, cool nights and limestone, the perfect conditions to pay homage to Italian inspirations.

The Ribolla Gialla is the MDI wine most inspired by Joško Gravner, and always the most seductive, hedonistic and texturally vibrant in the range. Ribolla Gialla appears relatively neutral in the vineyard, but given skin contact it comes alive. The fruit was sourced from the impeccably managed Vanden Estate near Kings Billabong, Mildura, and spent 162 days on skins in stainless steel before being drained and transferred to three-year-old hogsheads for a few weeks prior to bottling. The 2024 season in the Murray Darling was marked by low yields and excellent quality, with kind conditions at harvest.

The result is a wine of remarkable texture and presence: amber in colour, deeply aromatic, with the layered complexity that only extended skin contact can bring. A genuinely singular expression of Ribolla Gialla from one of Australia's most adventurous winemakers.