EOS 2024 and Fewer Than 150 Cases of Waitaki Pinot Noir
EOS Pinot Noir 2024 has yet to be released. Its production in standard 750 mL bottles amounts to fewer than 150 twelve-bottle cases. For Clos Ostler, that figure gives a tangible sense of the scale of an individual wine from our eight-hectare limestone monopole in the Waitaki Valley, North Otago. It is one selection, from one vineyard, in one season.
A wine this small invites close attention. Its place within the estate, the character of the growing year and the decisions behind its blend become part of understanding the bottle. The quantity is a useful beginning; the wine itself carries the story.
A selection within the monopole
EOS draws principally on Pinot Noir clones 667 and 777, with a smaller contribution from Abel. Its identity is centred on perfume, power and structure. Caroline’s brings together all five Pinot Noir clones grown at Clos Ostler, offering a different expression of the same vineyard. The two wines allow the site to be considered from more than one perspective.
The word monopole describes a vineyard under a single ownership. At Clos Ostler, our family’s care is focused on one defined limestone site near Duntroon. The vineyard’s boundaries give the wines a specific origin, while the individual selections give each release its own character. EOS is a small part of that wider estate story.
The 2024 season
The estate describes 2024 as a warm, dry El Niño season. For EOS 2024, the proportion of new oak was 35 per cent. These details belong to this vintage, they provide context for its development and for comparisons with earlier EOS releases.
Following the wine across seasons brings the role of the vineyard into sharper focus. A familiar selection can take on a different balance as the year changes. For someone who knows EOS 2022 or 2023, the 2024 offers a further chapter, with its own growing season and a particularly small production.
Fewer than 150 cases, before release
The figure describes production in standard 750 mL bottles, expressed as twelve-bottle case equivalents. Magnums are accounted for separately. It concerns EOS 2024 alone, rather than the combined production of Clos Ostler, and does not describe how a purchase must be packed.
Expressed this way, the scale is easy to understand. There are relatively few bottles through which this particular selection and season can be experienced. The next vintage will be another wine, shaped by another year on the same limestone slope.
Following a small release
For a collector, the interest lies in returning to a wine and noticing what time reveals. Opening a bottle with a meal, recording the experience and revisiting it later creates a personal understanding that grows alongside the estate’s history. A small number of carefully chosen bottles can provide that continuity.
Contact the estate for release information and the wines offered in your market. We welcome enquiries from those discovering EOS for the first time and those who have followed earlier vintages. The conversation begins with the vineyard and the wines you enjoy.
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