2021 Clos Ostler Caroline's Pinot Noir, Otago

Gold Medal 2024 Gold Medal 2025

Best New Zealand Red Wine Trophy

Best New Zealand Pinot Noir Trophy

Best North Otago Pinot Noir Trophy, International Wine Challenge 2025 (IWC)

Seductive and immensely complex, the enticing bouquet shows dark berry, dried porcini, warm spice and cedar characters. The palate exhibits outstanding concentration and depth, gracefully framed by rich texture and beautifully melded tannins. Plush and seamless with an impressively long, expansive finish. At its best: now to 2036.

97 points Sam Kim wineorbit.com

Complex, pure and enticing bouquet of mineral chalky soils and ripe fruits of dried raspberry and dark cherry, boysenberry and soft dried herbs suggesting sage and thyme. The use of oak is specific and precise with scents of mostly new barrel with some older. As the wine touches the palate the flavours of oak strike first then give way to the core fruit and mineral flavours from the bouquet then dried herb and savoury complexities. There’s a tautness to the palate with an abundance of polished tannins and barrel spice, plenty of acidity and a complex finish. A wine for the cellar with best drinking likely from 2028 through 2038+.

96 points Cameron Douglas camdouglas.com

Dense, intense pinot noir with cherry/berry, spicy/smoky oak, cassis, and a lingering fruity finish. Tight, compact wine with pleasing layers and a taut structure that shows exciting bottle maturation potential. 

95 points Bob Campbell MW therealreview.com

From the cool inland slopes of Central Otago’s Waitaki influenced corridor, this Pinot Noir reflects Clos Ostler’s focus on structure, perfume and mineral clarity. Caroline’s is the estate’s flagship expression, drawn from carefully selected parcels where schist and limestone soils bring both tension and savoury depth. The climate here is marginal and wind swept, with long daylight hours and cold nights preserving acidity and shaping a Pinot that feels lifted and architectural rather than lush.

The winemaking is guided by patience and restraint. Gentle extraction protects aromatics, while thoughtful oak ageing adds frame and complexity without obscuring the vineyard voice. The goal is a wine that evolves in the glass and in bottle, built on balance rather than power.

In the glass it shows a deep ruby with garnet tones. Aromas unfold slowly, revealing dark cherry, cranberry and plum, followed by rose petal, dried herbs, forest floor and a subtle spice note. A cool, stony freshness anchors the bouquet and hints at the underlying mineral spine.

The palate is medium to full bodied and finely structured, with concentrated red fruit wrapped in firm, silky tannins. Bright acidity gives energy and precision, carrying flavours of cherry, berry and savoury earth through a long, mineral finish. The texture is taut yet graceful, inviting both contemplation and food.

It pairs beautifully with duck, lamb, venison and mushroom driven dishes. Drinking impressively now with air, it will cellar confidently for eight to twelve years, developing deeper earthy and gamey complexity while retaining freshness.

Caroline’s Pinot Noir captures Otago in a serious register, cool climate tension, perfume and mineral structure working in harmony.