Ocean Eight Pinot Noir 2009 Mornington Peninsula Victoria, Australia

Ocean Eight Pinot Noir 2009 is crafted in the very cool climate in the Mornington Peninsula, where the winery is owned by the Aylward family and made by official Young Gun of Wine Mike Aylward . The Mornington Peninsula wine region lies to the South East of Melbourne and is bounded by Port Phillip and Westernport Bays and so has a true maritime climate which modifies the temperature range and provides relatively high summer humidity hence vine stress is low, sunshine hours are abundant, and rainfall is plentiful during winter and spring, a great growing enviroment.
Also with late ripening, a prolonged gentle autumn leads to fully ripe grapes with outstanding fruit flavours, high natural acidity and fine tannins. This is perfect for Pinot Noir and also for Chardonnay, but over the last century many have tried to grow grapes here without little success as matching the variety to climate is never more important than here.

This wine does not disappoint - it has wonderful earthy aromas with a twist of leather and spice in the red fruit and cranberry mix, on the palate, silky texture, low ripe tannins and the fruit once more is sweet and ripe. The taut acidity matches the well tucked in alcohol ( 13.5%) and the earthy, spicey flavours are savoury and the length is good with a hint of leather towards the end - a really well made wine from a good maker - enjoy! This wine will continue to improve in bottle for 1-3 years and its Burgundian style is enticing. It is available from North and South Wines at a cost of £25.99.
Score : 89


The grapes are picked by hand and delivered to our gravity fed winery. The ferment on skin is kept cool with constant plunging. This cool ferment builds fantastic aromatics in pinot noir. The plunging helps extract flavour and colour from the skins of pinot noir. Once fermentation is complete, the wine is pressed into barrel and stored at a constant temperature in our unique underground barrel room for 12 months with 50% new oak.

For information on the Mornington Peninsula click here.