North Otago’s Place Among New Zealand’s Best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
North Otago is producing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay that deserve a place among New Zealand’s finest. At Clos Ostler, that conviction has become increasingly tangible through the wines themselves and the independent recognition they have received. Caroline’s Pinot Noir 2021 won the New Zealand Red Trophy at the 2025 International Wine Challenge, while EOS Pinot Noir 2022 earned Platinum and 97 points at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards. Alongside those reds, our first two Chardonnay vintages received 95 and 96 points from Candice Chow. For anyone looking beyond the familiar names on New Zealand’s wine map, the Waitaki Valley offers a compelling place to begin.
We write from our family’s vineyard near Duntroon, where limestone rises above the rows and the valley opens towards the Pacific. Our belief in North Otago comes from living with the demands of this place, following its seasons and tasting what it gives us. The awards provide an outside assessment of particular wines. The deeper fascination is discovering how a small hillside can produce both the perfume and savoury detail of Pinot Noir and the freshness and texture of Chardonnay.
North Otago and Waitaki belong on the wine map
The geographical indication is registered as Waitaki Valley North Otago / Waitaki Valley, a name that connects the wine region with its North Otago setting. It has held that registration since 3 December 2018. Clos Ostler’s wines belong to this region, and identifying them simply as Otago leaves an important part of their origin unexplained. Readers exploring Otago wine should distinguish the Waitaki Valley from Central Otago and give each its own place in the conversation.
New Zealand Winegrowers describes a valley shaped by the Southern Alps, the Pacific and a river running from the mountains towards the coast. Its vineyards include weathered limestone slopes and stony former riverbeds. This variation matters when choosing a bottle. A regional name establishes the setting, while the vineyard explains the particular ground on which the fruit was grown. At Clos Ostler, that ground is a north-facing limestone monopole, cared for as one estate.
Pinot Noir with national and international recognition
Caroline’s Pinot Noir 2021 received 96 points and three trophies at the International Wine Challenge 2025, the North Otago Pinot Noir Trophy, New Zealand Pinot Noir Trophy and New Zealand Red Trophy. The national awards give North Otago a clear place in a discussion of New Zealand’s best Pinot Noir. This was recognition for a named wine from a named vintage, judged within that competition, and it remains a significant achievement in the estate’s history.
EOS Pinot Noir 2022 followed with Platinum and 97 points at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards. Decanter identified the result as the Waitaki Valley’s first entry into its Platinum category. The two wines represent different seasons and different selections from Clos Ostler. Caroline’s brings together the vineyard’s five Pinot Noir clones, while EOS explores a selection of parcels and components chosen for perfume, structure and persistence. Their shared origin makes the comparison particularly revealing.
In our own tasting, the attraction lies in the detail that remains after the initial impression of fruit. We look for rose and violet fragrance, herbal and savoury layers, powdery tannins and a finish that continues to unfold. These qualities are part of what draws us back to Pinot Noir from this hillside. Following several vintages gives a richer understanding of the estate than a single score can offer, revealing how the same place responds to different seasons.
Chardonnay deserves equal attention
Chardonnay is central to our ambition for Clos Ostler. The first estate release came from the 2024 vintage, and Candice Chow awarded it 95 points, highlighting the combination of bright fruit, integrated creaminess and flinty detail. Her review of the 2025 awarded 96 points and described a wine with tension, elegance, creamy texture and a long finish. Apple, lime, nectarine, blossom and almond featured in that assessment. These are separate reviews of consecutive vintages, each with its own character.
The distinction between those seasons is useful for understanding what we seek in North Otago Chardonnay. The 2024 completed malolactic fermentation, while the 2025 followed a partial approach. Both were fermented in barrel. Such decisions are made in response to the fruit and the balance of the year, with the aim of giving the wine texture while retaining the freshness and aromatic definition that make the site so compelling. Our Chardonnay should carry its own identity within the estate and command attention on its own terms.
Clos Ostler’s first release is one chapter in a broader regional story. New Zealand Winegrowers recognises Chardonnay among the Waitaki’s varieties and lists producers including Valli, Forrest Wines and Q Wine alongside Clos Ostler. Exploring the region means paying attention to individual vineyards, producers and vintages. For drinkers interested in fine New Zealand Chardonnay, North Otago offers an additional landscape to discover, with wines whose balance of freshness and depth makes them especially rewarding at the table.
The limestone and the long season
The vineyard gives a physical explanation for our attachment. Fossilised scallop shells are preserved in the limestone, their ribs still distinct in pieces of stone found around the estate. Above the vines, the escarpment exposes the material beneath the hillside. Within the clos, dry-grown vines are tended and harvested by hand, and small differences between parcels remain part of the decisions made through the season. These details connect the finished wines to a place that can be walked, observed and understood over time.
The Waitaki’s cool conditions and extended autumn make patience essential. New Zealand Winegrowers records the opportunity offered by long, dry autumns alongside the persistent risk of frost. At our vineyard, the changing westerly and easterly winds are part of daily life, and some seasons carry harvest into May. Ripeness has to be followed closely. The purpose of the work is to bring flavour, skins and freshness into balance, allowing the wines to retain detail as they gain depth.
North Canterbury and North Otago share a fascination with limestone
North Canterbury offers a revealing comparison for anyone discovering North Otago. Both belong to the eastern South Island, where the Southern Alps, Pacific influences and extended growing seasons help shape the conditions for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. In North Canterbury, limestone-derived clays on the hillsides sit within a much broader landscape of gravels and alluvial soils. Waipara and the country towards Weka Pass have helped establish how expressive these varieties can become when growers understand the ground beneath them. The kinship with the Waitaki is strongest on those calcareous hillsides, where the choice of a particular slope matters as much as the name of the region.
The comparison also reveals why each deserves its own identity. Waipara benefits from sheltering hills and a somewhat warmer climate than other parts of Canterbury, while the Waitaki brings its own combination of exposed limestone slopes, stony river terraces and a distinctly cool season that can carry ripening deep into autumn. At Clos Ostler, the resemblance that first drew our family was the meeting of limestone and Burgundian varieties. The fascination that has held us here is what happens when that meeting takes place in North Otago, with its winds, its late harvests and the herbal, savoury detail we find in the wines. North Canterbury gives wine lovers a valuable point of reference, and the Waitaki gives them another expression to explore.
Why we believe in the Waitaki’s future
The question of future viability gives this comparison another dimension. Waitaki District Council’s climate projections anticipate higher temperatures and fewer frost days, alongside changes in rainfall and extremes. For a vineyard historically close to the cool limit of ripening, additional warmth could improve the opportunity to bring fruit to maturity. That is a possible implication of the projections, rather than evidence that every season will become easier. Water availability, wind, flowering conditions and the timing of frost will continue to matter, and a warmer district does not automatically mean a more dependable vineyard.
We see the Waitaki’s cool starting point as a reason to take its long-term potential seriously. Our commitment to Clos Ostler rests on the belief that this limestone hillside can continue to produce wines of fragrance, freshness and depth as we learn more from each season. It would be premature to declare the valley more viable than North Canterbury, whose vineyards encompass many different soils and local climates. The more compelling possibility is that carefully chosen Waitaki sites may become increasingly valuable for the style of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay our family loves. That is a future we are prepared to work towards over generations, through patient farming and a close understanding of this particular place.
A family commitment to North Otago
For Antonio, Connor and Georges Roulet Magides, the estate connects a Swiss-French winegrowing inheritance with a future in New Zealand. Our family took on Clos Ostler in 2021, deeply conscious of the courage of Jim and Anne Jerram and Jeff Sinnott in establishing and farming this isolated site. Working with Timbo Deaker and Sarah-Kate and Dan Dineen, we want to deepen the understanding of the vineyard and carry that knowledge forward. Pinot Noir and Chardonnay are equally important to the estate we hope our children and grandchildren will inherit.
Our view is that a serious search for New Zealand’s best Pinot Noir and Chardonnay should include North Otago’s Waitaki Valley. The trophies and reviews give that view substance, while the wines offer the more personal experience of discovery. Open a bottle, give it time in the glass and return to it over a meal. The reason to remember North Otago is ultimately what remains with you after the wine has been tasted.
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