Over the years Ocean 8 have honed the style of the ‘Verve’ and it is now firmly entrenched as one of Australia's most distinctive examples of Australian Chardonnay.

The fruit is picked 1 week earlier than any other vineyard on the Mornington Peninsula & only old barrels are used for vinification to highlight the vibrancy of the fruit from the Ocean 8 vineyard.

Tasting Notes:

The 2016 Verve Chardonnay has soft white peach complimenting a backbone of crisp grapefruit acidity & lemon curd texture. The style is lean & clean with balance and length.

Winemaking:

Grapes for the Ocean 8 Verve Chardonnay are received at the winery in February to March and refrigerated overnight down to 10 degrees Celsius.

The fruit is wholebunch pressed directly into old barrels (7+years) by gravity alone.

Sulphur dioxide is added at 50 mg/l into the ferment.

Over 3-6 weeks the juice goes through a natural – no yeast added - fermentation.

The wine is then held in barrel, in the cellar until October and is then consolidated into tank for blending.

The wine is racked once before filtration and once clear, the wine is filtered down to 1.0 microns ready for bottling.

About The Vineyard:

The top 30cm soil profile is made up of 20% sand, 65% silt and 15% clay.

These sandy loams are also known as brown chromosols and are defined by their moderate fertility and water holding capacity. It is ideally located for the growing and ripening of the Verve style.

The vineyard is one of the most northerly on the Mornington Peninsula landmass. Yields for Chardonnay fruit destined for this wine fell between 2.3- 3.7 tonnes/acre.

Technical Data:

Alcohol: 13.0
VA: 0.31g/L
TA: 5.7g/L
Residual Sugar: 0.58g/L
pH: 3.3
Clones: P58, 95, 96 & I10, planted in 1999.