Ocean Eight Pinot Gris (2023)

750mL / Mornington Peninsula, VIC / Australia

Category: Wine
Sub-Category: White Wine

The vintage of 2018 started with a favourable flowering period and very low rainfall in November & December.

Very good fruit set and a particularly even crop load.

The summer of 2018 and the autumn harvest behaved with continued moderation and consistency, producing a steady ripening season that saw most fruit harvested by the end of March.

Tasting Notes:

The first aroma displays ample fruit, including tangerine, mandarin & pears, making it an exotic mix.

All these fruit flavours fill a rich and textured palate, a desirable character of low yielding concentrated Pinot Gris.

The finish is dry to some palates, slightly sweet to others, depending upon individual threshold, but the crisp acid finish is evident to all.

About the Vineyard:

The top 30cm soil profile is red ferrosols. It is defined by its very high clay content & high levels fertility and water holding capacity. The vineyard is one of the most southerly and coolest on the Mornington Peninsula landmass, allowing the fruit to ripen into Autumn, for perfect balance of ripeness & acidity.  Yields were 2.6-5.4 tonnes/acre

Winemaking:

The Pinot Gris grapes were received at the winery in February to March and refrigerated overnight down to 10 degrees Celsius.

The fruit is then 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 when it is then consolidated into tank for blending.

The wine is racked once before filtration.

Once clear, the wine is filtered down to 1.0 microns ready for bottling.

Technical Analysis:

Alcohol: 13.5
VA: 0.24g/L
TA: 5.6g/L
RS: 0.25g/L
pH: 3.3