Ocean Eight, the Aylward family's Mornington Peninsula winery founded in 2004 at Shoreham, has built a strong reputation for Pinot Gris, and winemaker Mike Aylward has made it a consistent highlight in recent vintages. The fruit is grown on the estate's cool, maritime-influenced vineyards in Victoria's southern Peninsula, where sea breezes and cool nights on red volcanic and clay-loam soils protect natural acidity and slow ripening. Careful farming preserves the delicate aromatics that define the style. The 2024 Peninsula season produced fresh, well-defined fruit, and the wine is lean, bright and tight, balancing fresh citrus intensity with a touch of melon and a hint of ginger.

The wine was made in a lean, precise style that favours freshness and fine texture over overt richness on release. Fruit was gently handled and vinified to keep the palate bright and tight, showing fresh citrus intensity with a touch of melon and a hint of ginger, framed by a clean, crisp acid finish. With time in bottle it is expected to develop a rounder, oily mouthfeel, and the wine is built to age gracefully for roughly four to seven years. The emphasis is on balance and definition rather than weight. Specific fermentation, lees-ageing and oak details for the 2024 release are not published, so exact technical figures are not stated here.