The First Two Decades of Clos Ostler
What fourteen documented vintages are beginning to reveal about one limestone vineyard in the Waitaki Valley.
By Connor Roulet Magides
When an older bottle of Caroline’s Pinot Noir is opened beside a recent vintage, the influence of time becomes immediately apparent. The fruit has changed, the tannins have softened and aromas once held quietly within the structure of the young wine have moved forward. Dried herbs, earth, mushroom, truffle and spice have become more visible.
The vintages remain distinct. A warmer year may retain greater breadth and darker fruit, while a cooler season may appear more aromatic, linear and finely drawn. Yet beneath those differences, certain qualities continue to return: natural acidity, persistent tannin, moderate weight and a savoury character that becomes increasingly articulate in bottle.
This is how a vineyard gradually becomes understood. One vintage can show promise. A sequence begins to reveal patterns. A meaningful record requires contrasting seasons, mature bottles and the patience to reconsider earlier conclusions.
The first Pinot Noir vines were planted at Clos Ostler in 2002. A tiny experimental wine followed in 2004. Since then, fourteen vintages of Caroline’s Pinot Noir have been documented from the vineyard.
Caroline’s has never been an automatic annual release. Each vintage in the record represents a wine verifiably produced from Clos Ostler when the available fruit formed a complete expression of the vineyard.
More than two decades later, these bottles provide the beginnings of a continuing study of one north-facing limestone escarpment in the Waitaki Valley. They allow us to ask more exact questions. Which characteristics belong principally to a season, and which persist across years? How has the vineyard changed as its vines have matured? What remains after primary fruit recedes? How far might the most complete vintages develop?
The answers are still emerging, but the record has begun to speak.
A vineyard planted before its reputation existed
When the first Pinot Noir vines were established at Clos Ostler, the Waitaki Valley was at the beginning of its modern viticultural history. There was little regional precedent and no substantial body of local wine through which the suitability of the site could be judged.
The decision began with the land itself. Clos Ostler occupied a north-facing escarpment above Duntroon, with free-draining soils derived from ancient marine limestone. The exposure offered sustained sunlight in one of New Zealand’s coolest winegrowing environments. Westerly weather arrived from across the Otago ranges, while easterly conditions carried the influence of the Pacific inland.
The relationship between these elements made the site compelling for Pinot Noir. It also made it demanding. Spring frost, persistent wind, modest heat accumulation and a prolonged ripening season could allow gradual maturity or leave the fruit exposed to the arrival of autumn weather.
Planting the vineyard was therefore an act of inquiry. Its suitability would have to be demonstrated through the behaviour of the vines and eventually through the development of the wines themselves.
The experimental 2004 Caroline’s Pinot Noir provided the first indication. Produced from vines planted only two years earlier, it was necessarily small in scale. Contemporary tasting recorded perfume, spice, savoury character and a soft, persistent palate.
The wine could not express the maturity or complexity of the vineyard as it exists today. Its significance lies elsewhere. It showed that Pinot Noir grown on this escarpment could reach ripeness while retaining the freshness, perfume and savoury definition associated with the cool Waitaki season.
The first bottle did not answer the question of the site. It allowed the question to continue.
The formative vintages
The 2005 and 2006 wines belong to the vineyard’s earliest stage, when the vines were establishing their root systems and the character of the site was only beginning to appear.
A cool summer in 2005 produced a tauter Caroline’s with an edgy, herbal expression. It provided an early example of how closely the wine could record the conditions of the season. Its structure and savouriness were present, although expressed through the angularity of a young vineyard in a cool year.
The 2006 has since become more revealing. With maturity, it has developed truffle, damp undergrowth and mushroom around soft red berry and strawberry fruit. Its structure remains lithe, with persistent acidity preserving the shape of the wine.
This is important evidence. The 2006 was produced from very young vines, yet it has moved beyond primary fruit into a mature, complex and recognisable expression. Its development provides an early indication that the vineyard possessed more than immediate aromatic appeal.
The 2008 vintage gave another perspective. Earthy raspberry and red cherry were carried by bright, citrus-edged acidity, fine tannin and a bittersweet line of chicory and liquorice. It was less deeply fruited than the following year, but distinguished by energy, perfume and structural clarity.
The 2009 Caroline’s was more concentrated. Raspberry, cherry skin and redcurrant were framed by smoke, dried herbs, liquorice and fragrant oak. The wine was fermented entirely with wild yeast and matured in French oak, of which 25 per cent was new.
By this point, several characteristics were beginning to recur. The colour and depth of fruit changed with the season. Acidity remained central. Fine tannin, dried herbs and savoury mineral definition continued to appear.
These early wines were exploratory. They record a young vineyard and a developing understanding of how to interpret it. Their imperfections are part of their value because they preserve conditions and decisions that cannot be repeated.
2010: the beginning of a longer view
The 2010 Caroline’s marked an important point in the emerging sequence.
In youth, the wine showed dark cherry, raspberry, violet, dried herbs and earth, supported by vibrant acidity, fine tannin and pronounced mineral energy. It received Gold at the 2013 International Wine Challenge, together with 95 points from Raymond Chan and Sam Kim, 93 points from Bob Campbell MW and further international recognition.
Matt Kramer of Wine Spectator selected it among his five most interesting wines of 2013, drawing attention to its mineral precision and placing it in the context of fine Chambolle-Musigny.
The mature bottle is now more instructive than its early reception. With extended age, black truffle, earth and deep savoury complexity have emerged beneath the remaining dark fruit. The acidity continues to define the wine, while the tannin has become finer without losing its structural purpose.
The 2010 therefore provides one of the clearest early demonstrations of how Caroline’s develops. The primary fruit has receded in proportion, allowing qualities that were once less visible to become central. The wine has retained its shape while gaining another dimension.
Ageworthiness is ultimately demonstrated through this kind of development. Longevity has value when time produces greater complexity, coherence and expression.
2011: delicacy and savoury development
The following vintage showed a markedly different face of the vineyard.
Caroline’s 2011 was pale and delicate, with floral and beetroot notes, silky tannins and a long mushroom-driven finish. As it matured, dried herbs, earth, roast meat and liquorice became more apparent.
Its importance lies partly in its contrast with 2010. The wine never depended upon concentration for authority. Its length came through fine texture, aromatic detail and a chalky structural line.
Later inclusion in a Decanter retrospective of mature New Zealand wines gave the vintage another point of observation. Its development reinforced the possibility that Clos Ostler could produce ageworthy Pinot Noir across more than one register.
The 2010 gained depth through black truffle, earth and remaining dark fruit. The 2011 developed through delicacy, mushroom, dried herbs and silky tannin. Both retained a recognisable connection to the vineyard.
Recognition across successive seasons
The vintages that followed began to establish a sustained external record.
Caroline’s 2013 combined red cherry and red apple skin with dried herbs, mineral detail and measured oak. Its youth was defined by freshness, layered flavour and firm chalky tannin. It received 95 points from Cameron Douglas MS and was awarded the Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir Trophy at the 2015 International Wine Challenge.
The 2015 vintage was broader and darker. Cherry, plum and dark berries were layered with violet, lavender, undergrowth and exotic spice. Powdery tannins and a strong acid spine carried the wine through a distinctly chalky finish. It received 96 points from Cameron Douglas MS and the North Otago Pinot Noir Trophy at the 2017 International Wine Challenge.
By the release of the 2016, Caroline’s had received six consecutive Gold medals at the International Wine Challenge. The sequence mattered because it extended across vintages of differing shape and concentration. The recognition did not depend upon the repetition of one style. It followed the vineyard through seasonal variation.
Caroline’s was becoming recognisable through continuity rather than uniformity.
The 2016 vintage
The 2016 Caroline’s became one of the defining wines of the vineyard’s first two decades.
It combined black plum and cherry with rose, thyme and finely measured spice. The wine possessed considerable concentration, yet its structure remained unusually light on its feet. Chalky tannin, natural acidity and savoury length held the fruit in proportion.
Ray Jordan awarded the wine 98 points, describing it as the finest New World Pinot Noir he had tasted. Huon Hooke and Sam Kim each awarded 97 points. Bob Campbell MW and Cameron Douglas MS awarded 96, while Raymond Chan awarded 95. The wine also received 96 points and Gold at the International Wine Challenge.
The scores were appreciated, but the consistency of the observations was more useful. Independent tasters repeatedly identified depth, measured tannin, freshness, elegance and persistence. The wine was seen as concentrated and weightless, powerful and finely structured.
The 2016 represented a stage at which the vines had moved beyond their earliest development and the vineyard’s recurring qualities had become clearer. It demonstrated that Clos Ostler could produce substantial concentration while retaining the tension and delicacy that distinguish its position in the Waitaki.
Later seasons would express completeness differently. The 2016 remains an important reference point within the record.
The warm and dry 2018 season
The 2018 season was among the warmest and driest experienced in the Waitaki Valley. Dry conditions continued through harvest, allowing individual parcels and clones to be picked as they reached maturity.
The resulting Caroline’s is now moving beyond primary fruit. Red cherry and plum remain, while dried herbs, mushroom, earth and game have become increasingly prominent. The tannins have softened around a fine, chalky texture, and lively acidity continues to preserve the wine’s shape.
Cameron Douglas MS awarded the wine 96 points. It also received 95 points and Gold at the 2020 International Wine Challenge, together with 18.5 points from Raymond Chan.
The evolution of the 2018 is particularly relevant to understanding the later 2024 vintage. It provides an earlier example of how Clos Ostler responds to greater warmth. The season produced ripeness and breadth, but the mature wine continues to carry acidity, savoury definition and a clear structural line.
Warmth did not remove the identity of the site. It revealed another expression of it.
2020: concentration from small berries
Warm, dry conditions and favourable flowering in 2020 produced small, intensely flavoured berries. Harvest took place by hand between 11 and 29 April, with Abel, 115, 667, 777 and UCD6 contributing to the final composition.
The resulting Caroline’s combines red and dark cherry, raspberry and damson plum with dried herbs, mushroom and earth. Clove and anise sit in the background. Powdery tannins and measured acidity carry a broad, savoury finish.
The wine received 97 points from Sam Kim, 96 points from Candice Chow, 95 points from Bob Campbell MW and 96 points with Gold at the International Wine Challenge.
The 2020 continues the pattern established by earlier warm vintages. Greater fruit intensity is accompanied by acidity and powdery tannin, allowing the wine to carry breadth without losing definition.
It also shows the vineyard entering a more mature phase. By this point, the vines had experienced almost two decades of Waitaki seasons. Their behaviour was more familiar, and the relationship between individual clones and parcels could be followed with greater precision.
The 2021 season
The 2021 growing season was warm and dry, with persistent westerly winds contributing to small, concentrated berries. The fruit was harvested by hand between 7 and 20 April.
Individual clonal lots were retained separately through fermentation and maturation. Caroline’s brought together 115, 667, 777, UCD6 and Abel, expressing the breadth of the vineyard through the conditions of the year.
The wine showed damson plum, black cherry and blackcurrant, followed by clove, dried thyme and sage. Fine, supple tannins framed the concentrated fruit, while vibrant acidity and a persistent mineral line carried the savoury finish.
Caroline’s 2021 received 97 points from Sam Kim, 96 from Cameron Douglas MS, and 95 from Bob Campbell MW and Richard Hemming MW. It was also reviewed by Konstantin Baum MW, Emma Jenkins MW, Claire Nesbitt and other international commentators.
At the 2025 International Wine Challenge, the wine received Gold and three trophies: Best New Zealand Red Wine, Best New Zealand Pinot Noir and Best North Otago Pinot Noir.
This recognition represents an important point within the estate’s history. Its significance rests upon the sequence that preceded it. The vineyard had already produced distinctive and recognised wines across cool, warm, delicate and concentrated seasons. Caroline’s 2021 gave a particularly complete account of a warm, dry year and brought that longer record into international view.
2022: restraint, precision and the emergence of EOS
The 2022 season provided a clear contrast. La Niña brought even spring budburst, cool and damp flowering, mild summer temperatures and a dry, settled autumn.
The resulting Caroline’s was more lifted and restrained. Red cherry, raspberry and plum were joined by rose, hibiscus, thyme and earth. Supple, dusty tannins and bright acidity carried the wine through a long and savoury finish.
It received 96 points from Sam Kim, 95 from Candice Chow, and 94 from Cameron Douglas MS and Stephen Wong MW.
By this stage, more than two decades of observation had created the basis for another expression of the vineyard. Individual clonal lots could be followed through élevage and considered according to their depth, tannin quality, natural acidity and capacity for prolonged development.
EOS emerged from this process.
The inaugural EOS Pinot Noir was drawn principally from 667 and 777, with a smaller contribution from Abel. These were the components that attained prime ripeness while retaining the structural qualities required for the longest development in bottle.
Caroline’s remained the ensemble, expressing the breadth of the vineyard through several clonal voices. EOS became the soloist, selected for depth, persistence and ageing potential.
EOS 2022 received 97 points and Platinum at the 2026 Decanter World Wine Awards. It became the first wine from the Waitaki Valley to reach Platinum in the competition and placed equal among the highest-rated New Zealand Pinot Noirs that year.
The Decanter judges described soaring herbs, green olive, bay leaf, cherry and raspberry, together with decisive structure, shaped tannins, crisp acidity and a long savoury finish.
These observations are closely aligned with the qualities that had appeared across earlier Caroline’s vintages. The recognition of EOS was therefore connected to a longer history. Its selection became possible through knowledge accumulated over two decades of following the same vineyard.
2024: the warmest season in two decades
The 2024 season introduced another dimension to the record. It was the warmest experienced at Clos Ostler since the vineyard was planted, bringing a degree of ripeness, concentration and phenolic completeness not previously encountered across the same breadth of the monopole.
Warmth has a particular meaning in the Waitaki. The season remained governed by the vineyard’s latitude, persistent wind and exposure to cool maritime conditions. The additional heat allowed ripening to proceed with unusual continuity. Skins and seeds reached advanced maturity, while the natural acidity that gives Clos Ostler its shape remained present within the fruit.
The individual Pinot Noir components possessed considerable depth. Their fruit moved towards dark cherry, plum and black fruit, accompanied by ripe tannins and the savoury character that continues to distinguish the vineyard. The wines carried more volume than the finer and more restrained 2022 expressions, while remaining recognisably connected to the site.
Caroline’s 2024 brings together the breadth of the season. It is the most concentrated Caroline’s produced to date, with greater body and amplitude than the preceding vintages. Natural acidity, mature tannin and a persistent savoury line hold that concentration and carry the wine through its length.
EOS 2024 takes the vintage further. Its components were selected from the clonal lots that combined prime ripeness with the greatest depth, tannin quality and persistence. It possesses the authority expected from the warmest season in the vineyard’s history, together with the structural balance required for prolonged development.
These wines remain young, and our understanding of them will evolve with time in bottle. Yet among the vintages produced at Clos Ostler so far, 2024 appears to represent a particularly complete meeting of season, mature vines and accumulated knowledge of the vineyard.
EOS 2022 demonstrated what Clos Ostler could achieve in a mild and restrained year. It became the first Waitaki wine to receive Platinum at the Decanter World Wine Awards. The 2024 wines emerge from very different conditions and possess greater natural concentration.
It is reasonable to wonder where Caroline’s and EOS 2024 may eventually sit within the developing record of Clos Ostler. Their standing must be determined through independent tasting and their evolution in bottle. From within the estate, they provide the strongest indication yet of how much the vineyard may still be capable of revealing.
What fourteen vintages are beginning to show
More than twenty years remain a short period in the life of a vineyard. They are sufficient to identify recurring tendencies, although the deepest conclusions will require several further decades.
The documented sequence extends from the perfumed and experimental 2004 through the cool and herbal 2005, the now mature and truffled 2006, the energetic 2008 and the more concentrated 2009.
The 2010 has developed black truffle and earth while retaining its structural line. The delicate 2011 has moved towards mushroom, dried herbs and silky tannin. The 2013 combined red fruit with firm chalky structure. The broader 2015 carried dark fruit, florals and powdery tannin. The 2016 brought concentration and weightlessness together.
The warm 2018 is developing game, mushroom and earth while retaining red fruit and lively acidity. The 2020 and 2021 vintages showed the concentration available from warm, dry seasons. The 2022 returned to a more lifted and restrained expression. The 2024 now stands at the other end of the climatic sequence as the warmest and most naturally concentrated season yet recorded at Clos Ostler.
Across that variation, several qualities continue to return.
Natural acidity remains present at full flavour, preserving the shape of the wines in youth and carrying them through bottle development. Tannin varies in quantity and texture, but the most complete vintages possess a fine, persistent and often chalky structure.
Fruit moves between red cherry, raspberry and plum and the darker tones of damson, black cherry and blackcurrant. Savoury characters accompany it across the sequence. Herbs, earth, mushroom, spice and truffle become more apparent as the primary fruit recedes.
The wines also retain a sense of proportion. Clos Ostler can produce considerable concentration, especially in warm seasons and selected clonal lots. Its persistence continues to arise through the relationship between fruit, acidity, tannin and savoury complexity.
These qualities belong to the terroir of Clos Ostler. They emerge through the relationship between ancient marine limestone, northern exposure, the movement of water, persistent wind, the long Waitaki season and the vine material planted across the escarpment. Each vintage changes that relationship, but the vineyard continues to speak through it.
Fourteen documented Caroline’s vintages
Vintage | Place within the developing record |
2004 | The tiny experimental vintage. Perfumed, spicy and savoury, it provided the first indication of the site’s potential. |
2005 | A cool season produced a tauter, more herbal expression with natural acidity at its centre. |
2006 | Now mature, with truffle, undergrowth and mushroom around soft red fruit. The earliest clear evidence of meaningful bottle development. |
2008 | Perfumed and energetic, with red fruit, pronounced acidity, fine tannin and savoury complexity. |
2009 | A more concentrated vintage combining raspberry and redcurrant with smoke, dried herbs, liquorice and mineral focus. |
2010 | A landmark Caroline’s. Once dark-fruited and mineral, it has developed black truffle, earth and deep savoury complexity. |
2011 | Pale, delicate and floral, later developing mushroom, dried herbs, earth and silky tannin. |
2013 | Fresh and firmly chalky, receiving the Waitaki Valley Pinot Noir Trophy at the International Wine Challenge. |
2015 | Broader and darker, with floral complexity, powdery tannin and the North Otago Pinot Noir Trophy. |
2016 | Concentrated yet weightless, receiving sustained international recognition for its balance, tannin and length. |
2018 | From one of the warmest and driest Waitaki seasons, now moving into mushroom, game and earth while retaining fruit and acidity. |
2020 | Warm and dry, with small, intensely flavoured berries producing a broad and savoury Caroline’s. |
2021 | A concentrated and complete warm-season expression, awarded three trophies at the 2025 International Wine Challenge. |
2022 | A cooler, more lifted Caroline’s with bright acidity and supple tannin. The season also produced the inaugural EOS. |
The library as a record of the vineyard
A vineyard’s history exists most clearly in its bottles. Harvest dates, climatic records, analyses and contemporary notes provide essential context, but the wine itself preserves the combined result of the season and every decision that followed.
For this reason, the Clos Ostler library has a purpose beyond rarity. It allows earlier observations to be tested.
The mature 2006 shows that savoury complexity and persistent acidity were present even in the vineyard’s formative years. The 2010 demonstrates how dark fruit and mineral structure can move towards black truffle and earth. The 2011 shows another path through delicacy, mushroom and silky tannin. The 2018 is beginning to reveal how a warm, dry Waitaki season develops over time.
These bottles also inform present decisions. They show how tannin appears after primary fruit has receded, how oak becomes integrated and which combinations of acidity, concentration and structure have produced the most complete evolution.
A wine that appeared powerful in youth may develop with unexpected delicacy. A quieter vintage may gain coherence and complexity. Characteristics initially attributed to one season may prove to be recurring features of the vineyard.
Each bottle retained today carries information that will become more valuable in the future.
A record carried forward
The first two decades of Clos Ostler have moved the vineyard from possibility towards a growing body of evidence.
The earliest wines showed that Pinot Noir could reach maturity on the limestone escarpment while retaining the freshness and savoury character of the Waitaki season. Subsequent vintages began to reveal recurring qualities of natural acidity, fine tannin, moderate weight and mineral definition.
Mature bottles have added another layer to that record. The 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2018 show that the wines can move beyond primary fruit into truffle, mushroom, dried herbs, earth, game and spice while retaining their shape. This development provides the most substantial early evidence of the vineyard’s capacity for ageworthy wine.
As the vines matured, Caroline’s gained greater depth and consistency. It became the broad historical expression of the monopole, recording the relationship between several Pinot Noir clones and the conditions of each year. EOS later emerged from a more detailed understanding of those components, selecting the material with the greatest depth, persistence and potential for prolonged development.
Independent recognition has accompanied this progression. Caroline’s received six consecutive Gold medals at the International Wine Challenge by the 2016 vintage. The 2013 and 2015 won regional trophies. Caroline’s 2021 was named Best New Zealand Red Wine, Best New Zealand Pinot Noir and Best North Otago Pinot Noir. EOS 2022 became the first Waitaki Valley wine to receive Platinum at the Decanter World Wine Awards.
These results provide important independent observations across different periods and expressions of the vineyard. Their significance lies in accumulation.
The 2024 vintage now carries the record into another phase. The warmest season experienced since the first vines were planted produced a Caroline’s of unprecedented concentration and an EOS with exceptional depth and structural promise. If 2022 revealed what Clos Ostler could achieve through the precision of a mild and restrained season, 2024 may show what becomes possible when greater warmth, mature vines and two decades of accumulated knowledge coincide. Their structure gives us confidence, while their eventual place within the history of Clos Ostler must be earned through their development in bottle.
The next two decades will show whether the qualities now recurring continue to deepen. They will reveal which parcels possess the greatest consistency, how the clonal material behaves as the vines age and how far the finest compositions can develop.
Our responsibility is to preserve the conditions in which this record can continue. This means caring for the vineyard as one bounded place, retaining the distinctions between its parcels and vine material, documenting each season and keeping enough wine for future generations to examine the decisions made today.
Clos Ostler remains a young estate. Its history is being created in real time, one season and one bottle at a time. Fourteen documented Caroline’s vintages, the emergence of EOS and more than two decades of bottle development now provide a foundation from which its significance can be considered.
The evidence gives us reason for confidence and a deeper respect for how much remains to be learned.
The standing of the vineyard will ultimately rest upon what continues to return, how clearly it is expressed and how faithfully that expression endures.
.png)
Comments