Waitaki Valley is the smallest wine region in Aotearoa New Zealand with three wineries and 52 hectares of vines producing grapes each year, making it a modest size by anyone's count. It is also under the radar in profile and best explained as North Otago due to the fact that there is no shortage of wine regions in this country beginning with the Māori prefix 'wai', which means water. To put it in context, Waitaki Valley is far away from Central Otago and has a distinctly different climate due to the twists and turns in the valley that separate it from the coast at Oamaru to the arid inland area of Omarama in North Otago. Despite its small size, Waitaki  punches above its weight when it comes to wine quality and purity of flavour. It is a little like a microcosm of the Ahr Valley in Germany in terms of being a far flung, small wine region (although the Ahr is home to ten times as many vines as Waitaki). Both, however, are small, lesser known areas that are home to some outstanding wines, as my tastings over the past three weeks have shown. This week has been busy as I have swirled, sniffed, sipped and tasted over 30 aromatic wines, including this wine of the week from Waitaki. 

Wine of the week

18.5/20

2022 Valli Waitaki Riesling North Otago RRP $39 

The best Rieslings come from cool climates and Waitaki Valley in North Otago ticks all the cool boxes with its warm days, very cool nights and relatively short growing season. These conditions are uncannily similar to many of great German wine river valleys where Riesling originates. Valli Riesling may be light in alcohol (a plus in my book) with 9.5% but it is big on flavour with intensely ripe citrus aromas of mandarins, lemons and lime juice, all combining in a medium sweet wine that finishes on a crisp dry note.

It tastes outstanding with fresh salmon, just cooked to match the raw purity of this wine.