Balnaves Chardonnay 2020 South Australia Coonawarra

Ocean Eight Pinot Gris 2021

Another exeptional Pinot Gris from Mike Aylward. Aromatic with delicate citrus and floral perfume. Ripe pear and tangerine. it is crisp, refined and fresh with exture from ageing in French oak.

About Ocean Eight

The winery is located at 271 Tucks Road in Shoreham on the Mornington Peninsula. All grapes picked for this small production come from the Aylward’s 17 Hectares of vines. The Mornington Peninsula has become one of the most sought-after regions in Australia for the production of high quality Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Gris. These are the varieties planted at Ocean Eight’s vineyards. The winery is managed by Michael & Hollie Aylward whose passion originated over a decade ago with a part-time job at the family’s previous winery Kooyong. Ocean Eight has evolved into the couple’s full-time obsession. Whilst the first crops ripened on the vine, to further cultivate their viticultural experience, the Aylward’s embarked on several tours of the renowned vineyards and cellars of the Burgundy region in France. These trips played an important factor in the style of wines now produced at Ocean Eight. This passion-driven endeavour to bring the highest quality wine to the Mornington Peninsula saw Michael win the sought-after Australian “Young Gun of Wine” award in 2011.

When defining what identifies the Ocean Eight wines, Mike Aylward always returns to two ideas he has worked on since the first release wine; how well are they going to match with food and will they best represent the climate and grape growing conditions of the Mornington Peninsula. Therefore the Ocean Eight wines are lean, bright & tight with acid at the finish. These characters help the wines pair with food and age incredibly well. It is no coincidence that these characters are also intrinsic to the cool, maritime conditions of Mornington Peninsula vineyards, where the Aylward’s chose to grow grapes and make wines over 20 years ago.

Quartier Pinot Gris 2021

Straw in colour with a slight bronze tinge, the nose opens with lively aromas of pear and green apple, with floral scents of rosewater and honeysuckle together with spicy notes. The textural mid-palate displays delicate nectarine and biscuit flavours that flow into a crisp, almost spicy pear and apple skin finish.

Quartier means neighbourhood in French and the Quartier varietals are a celebration of diverse terroirs on the Mornington Peninsula. The fruit for this wine is sourced from a neighbouring vineyard in Balnarring. The fruit was whole bunch pressed and fermentation commenced spontaneously with ambient yeasts in entirely old French oak barriques. Once dry, the wine was left sur lie for several months prior to bottling. The wine was bottled without fining and with minimal filtration.