Whenever anyone asks me what wine people do all day, I find it hard to explain that it’s not all tasting, talking and enjoying lovely liquid. Like most jobs, working with wine is more often about the pragmatics, in our case, lifting boxes, stocking shelves and answering emails so that we can unveil interesting wines at great tastings, like The Wines of Waitaki on Thursday 17 August, 6pm to 8pm, at Regional Wines & Spirits in Wellington.

The Waitaki Valley is home to so much limestone and so few people that it looks more like a cross between Scotland and somewhere in the north of France than a remote region in New Zealand. But it is remote in the extreme. Waitaki Valley is just up the road and inland from the frosty charms of Oamaru, which a 90 minute drive north of Dunedin.

The region is home to 13 wineries today, including Jim and Anne Jerram, who flew me in their neighbour's small plane to visit the valley with a bird’s eye view of its plentiful limestone. We later tasted their wines. That was earlier this year and the trip triggered a comprehensive tasting of wines from Waitaki Valley. And so, we would love to see you at our tasting – which will highlight fresh new wines from Waitaki alongside older vintages from the region.

The wines we will taste come from the following wineries but there are more on their way to us, thanks to the enthusiasm of the winemakers in the region:

Ostler Audrey’s Pinot Noir

Ostler Caroline’s Pinot Noir

Pasquale Riesling

Pasquale Gewürztraminer

Pasquale Pinot Noir

Valli Waitaki Pinot Noir

Valli Waitaki Off-dry Riesling

Valli Waitaki Late Harvest Riesling

Valli Waitaki Riesling

Valli Waitaki Late Harvest Riesling

Valli Waitaki Vineyard Pinot Noir

John Forrest Collection Waitaki Pinot Noirs

John Forrest Collection Waitaki Chardonnay

Earthkeeper’s Pinot Noir

Earthkeeper’s white…

Q Pinot Noir

Q Pinot Gris

Q Chardonnay

You may notice there are no listed vintages on the wines above, which is because it looks like we will be tasting old and new vintages of these wines. Watch this space – and, more importantly, book yours here