While this early experimentation showed the wine-growing potential of the region, the wine industry did not survive for long on a commercial basis.

From the 1950s through to the late 1970s, there were many small-scale trial plantings of vines by private individuals and under the auspices of the New Zealand Department of Agriculture.

Rainfall averages around 375–600 millimetres (14.8–23.6 in): summer is hot and relatively dry, and often accompanied by the Nor'wester foehn wind; autumn is short, cool and sunny; and winter is cold, with substantial falls of snow.

The climatic contrast between Central Otago and the more humid, warmer wine regions of the North Island can be illustrated by the difference in the timing of the grape harvest.

The structure of the soil also differs considerably from other wine growing regions of the country, with heavy deposits of rough-edged mica and other metamorphic schists in silt loams.