The Pinot Noir Clones Behind Clos Ostler

5 days ago

2 min read

Vineyard parcels at Clos Ostler above the Waitaki Valley.

The numbers 115, 667 and 777 can seem a distant language beside the pleasure of a glass of Pinot Noir. In the vineyard they describe living material, with differences that growers follow through the season. Alongside UCD6 and Abel, they form the five-clone palette at Clos Ostler.

All five are Pinot Noir. A clone is a selection within the variety, propagated to retain the characteristics of the selected vine material. The term belongs to the practical history of growing grapes, and helps explain why planting one variety does not create a uniform vineyard.

Differences worth following

At Clos Ostler, understanding the five clones begins with following them on this limestone slope, season after season. The family’s winemaking experience and the work of the vineyard and cellar team meet in that attention to the place, its fruit and the wines as they develop.

Keeping the components distinct

At Clos Ostler, the Pinot Noir components are harvested and fermented separately. Following them individually preserves the opportunity to understand what they contribute before the final blends are made.

A block name locates a part of the vineyard, while a clone identifies vine material. The finished wine brings another decision into view. Caroline’s is a wine drawn from the broader five-clone selection, rather than simply a bottle containing everything within the boundary of the block that shares its name.

That distinction helps make sense of the estate map. Several kinds of information occupy the same slope, from the physical position of a row to the identity of its vines and the eventual destination of its fruit.

Two compositions from one place

Caroline’s brings the five Pinot Noir clones into an expression of the season across the vineyard. EOS is centred on 667 and 777, with a smaller contribution from Abel, and a particular emphasis on perfume, power and structure.

The proportions belong to the work of tasting and blending. Treating each clone as a fixed flavour would make the process seem simpler than it is. What matters is how the components fit together in a particular year.

For the drinker, these details deepen the relationship between the two wines. Caroline’s and EOS share the limestone slope and cool Waitaki setting, while their compositions offer different ways of understanding it.