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2009 Ocean Eight Pinot Noir
Winemaking
Pinot Noir is known to be the most difficult variety of grape to grow. The Pinot Noir grape has a thin light pigmented skin. This fragile barrier makes pinot noir vulnerable to extreme weather conditions. Pinot noir requires particular soil types that have excellent drainage and cool climatic conditions to enable slow ripening. The Mornington Peninsula has a cool maritime climate, with particularly fertile soils. This makes the Peninsula one of the few places in the world suitable for growing pinot noir.
With this in mind, Ocean Eight has done its diligence selecting the ideal vineyard location. The vines were planted in 1999. The age on the Ocean Eight Pinot Noir Vineyard is shown in the quality and structure of the Ocean Eight Pinot Noir.
The winemaking is a very simple process. 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.
The Ocean Eight pinot noir is crafted to highlight perfume and distinct varietal characters in this variety. We are proud to be producing pinot noir on the Mornington Peninsula.
Tasting Note
2009 Ocean Eight Pinot Noir
The 2009 Ocean Eight pinot noir has a deep red blood color. 2009 displays slightly riper fruit than previous vintages. The flavours remain, however, very much in the lighter red fruit area, with plump raspberry and a hint of perfumed strawberry being the most evident. These aromas are vivid and fresh, giving the wine a very youthful appearance, seemingly younger than a wine that is approaching 2 years of age.
Whilst the fruit flavours follow through on the palate they are joined with some secondary earthy characters that adds complexity and gives the wine extra viscosity. The finish sees plenty of firm grape tannin as well as crisp acid giving the wine a tight lingering ending.
Given the vibrancy of the wine it will match up with the spicier side of game food. Quail with a spicy Szechuan pepper sauce would be ideal.
