Product Profile
Ocean Eight Pinot Noir 2009
Medium Bodied, Dry, Red, Pinot Noir, Drink now or cellar, 13% alc.
Tasting Notes
The Ocean Eight Pinot Noir is all about highlighting varietal characters. It's all about showing off the capabilities of the Mornington Peninsula and giving our French counterparts a run for their money.
The 2009 Pinot Noir has fantastic palate weight. There is a great complexity of fruit flavours red cherries, plums, mulberries and a hint of violets. There are also some beautiful earthy overtones that can be put down to the vineyard soil profile. The most elegant feature of this wine is the silky texture before a lingering finish. The wine matches perfectly with game! Quail, Pigeon or Goose; i.e. Anything with feathers and plenty of flavours.
Notes on the 2008 vintage:
"The Mornington Peninsula is a wine region to be reckoned with these days. You can even talk rapturously about it without mentioning the beautiful scenery. Pinot noir from the peninsula has come one heck of a long way. What I like here is that it carries ripe, sweet, cherried fruit flavour and yet it’s not what I would call a fruit-driven wine. It’s a sign of how far Australian pinot noir, full stop, has come. This is a wine that is more about structure and balance than it is about fruit or oak. It tastes of earth, fresh rhubarb, and dark cherry, with highlights of milky, sappy complexity. Its tannin structure is the thing that really impresses though. This is a pinot noir with a future." 94+ Points - Campbell Mattinson, The Wine Front
"Clear red-crimson; the bouquet is fragrant and slightly spicy, the palate with a savoury/minerally/stemmy coat around its core of plum and black cherry fruit; good drive and length.” 94 Points - James Halliday, Wine Companion
Producer
Ocean Eight
Ocean Eight is owned by the Aylward family who have been located in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula since 1994. In 1996 a site was carefully selected and planting commenced. A large winery was constructed where the fruit would be processed by hand and made into high quality wine. This vineyard was named ‘Kooyong'. In 2004 Kooyong was sold to the owners of Port Phillip Estate. Chris, Gail and their son Mike wanted to remain in the wine business and planned on creating a new wine brand. The name 'Ocean Eight' was chosen as the Winery is located 8km from the beach at Shoreham. While an optimal vineyard site was being researched to produce high quality fruit, the Aylwards converted a stable yard at their property in Shoreham into a small gravity fed winery. All the detail was included to ensure top quality wines could be achieved. All Ocean Eight's wines are made in small quantities/batches to ensure high quality and a focused style. The Pinot Gris grapes were picked ripe and the fermentation took place in old used barrels. The intention is to highlight the richness of the variety yet keep the wine dry at the finish.