We investigate when a commutative ring spectrum $R$ satisfies a homotopical version of local Gorenstein duality, extending the notion previously studied by Greenlees. In order to do this, we prove an ascent theorem for local Gorenstein duality along morphisms of $k$-algebras. Our main examples are of the form $R = C^*(X;k)$, the ring spectrum of cochains on a space $X$ for a field $k$. In particular, we establish local Gorenstein duality in characteristic $p$ for $p$-compact groups and $p$-local finite groups as well as for $k = Q$ and $X$ a simply connected space which is Gorenstein in the sense of Dwyer, Greenlees, and Iyengar.