A Blind Tasting in Château-d’Oex

Some time ago, in the small village of Château-d'Oex in the Swiss Alps, we were fortunate to take part in a private blind tasting among a small group of collectors, wine professionals, family and friends. It was a quiet evening, without photography or ceremony, assembled simply around a shared interest in Pinot Noir and a collection of exceptional bottles.

The wines had been drawn largely from some of the great vineyards of Burgundy. Domaine de la Romanée-Conti Échézeaux was joined by Clos de Tart, Clos des Lambrays, La Grande Rue and Domaine Faiveley Mazis-Chambertin, among others. Concealed within the same line-up was EOS, from our own eight-hectare clos in the Waitaki Valley. The identities remained hidden throughout the tasting, allowing the wines to be discussed and assessed without the influence of their labels, reputations or value.

It was an extraordinary group of wines, and the standard across the table was correspondingly high. As the tasting progressed, certain glasses began to distinguish themselves through the collective discussion and scoring. When the bottles were eventually revealed, EOS had emerged as one of the highest-rated wines of the evening, its assessment placing it alongside Échézeaux from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti and among the leading wines of the tasting.

For our family, it was a remarkable result. EOS had been tasted without its story, without the Clos Ostler name and without any knowledge that one of the wines on the table had come from a small vineyard in North Otago. It had been considered in exactly the same manner as wines from vineyards whose reputations have been established over centuries. When the identities were revealed, what stayed with us was not so much the comparison with any individual bottle, but the level at which EOS had been judged. Among a field dominated by Grand Cru Burgundy, it had been recognised simply for the quality of what was in the glass.

A single evening cannot establish the enduring standing of a vineyard, and wine will always vary with vintage, age, bottle and circumstance. Yet neither should that diminish what happened. Blind tasting offers a rare opportunity to remove much of the expectation surrounding a wine and consider it on its own merits. On this occasion, a Pinot Noir from the Waitaki Valley was placed anonymously among wines from some of the most celebrated Pinot Noir vineyards in the world and emerged at the very highest level of the tasting.

For Clos Ostler, the evening was a powerful affirmation of what this small limestone hillside can produce. The vineyard occupies eight hectares on a north-facing escarpment of ancient marine limestone, in a valley where the long, cool growing season allows Pinot Noir to develop slowly. EOS is a selection from within this single clos, and its performance in Château-d'Oex provided an unusually clear measure of its quality: tasted blind, without reputation or provenance to influence the result, it could stand alongside wines from vineyards regarded among the finest in the world.

The significance extends beyond our own vineyard. New Zealand Pinot Noir has developed enormously within a comparatively short period, while the Waitaki Valley remains one of the country's smallest and least widely known wine regions. That a wine grown here could be tasted blind within such a formidable group and emerge among its leaders speaks to the level that New Zealand Pinot Noir can attain, and to the particular potential of the Waitaki. It is a region of very little land and very little wine, yet under the right conditions its combination of limestone, climate and a long growing season can produce Pinot Noir of remarkable perfume, complexity, structure and persistence.

That evening in Château-d'Oex has remained important to us because the comparison was never sought through the label. The wines were allowed to establish their own order in the glass, and EOS found itself at the top of an extraordinary field. For our family, it was an affirmation of Clos Ostler and of the work that has gone into this vineyard since its first plantings. More broadly, it was a compelling demonstration that a small clos in the Waitaki Valley can produce Pinot Noir worthy of being considered alongside some of the world's great wines.