Clos Henri is the Marlborough estate founded in 2000 by the Bourgeois family, ten generations of Sancerre winemakers dating back to 1696, and the Otira Single Vineyard represents its most distinctive parcel — a pocket of 75,000-year-old Otiran glacial greywacke stones deposited during the last great ice age. This free-draining, stony terroir forces vines to dig deep, producing small, intensely concentrated berries that carry a mineral precision impossible to replicate on the estate's clay soils, placing the Otira firmly in a league above the standard Clos Henri offering.

The 2024 vintage — the driest in Marlborough in 94 years — is crafted from those stressed, low-yielding vines and aged for eight months on fine lees, blending roughly 85% stainless steel with around 15% old French oak barrels to build texture without masking the vineyard's voice. The result is everything James Suckling captured in his 94-point review: ripe lemon, subtle elderflower, hay and lime zest with a whisper of sea spray, all carried on a razor-focused, racy palate with a lightly phenolic grip and an exceptionally long, precise finish — a score matched independently by Wine Enthusiast, and a price of €23.68 that represents outstanding value for single-vineyard Marlborough at this level.