Sunday 26th October, the first day of my first tour of New Zealand.
A great first night dinner, everyone has arrived safely and are looking very well despite long journeys.
On Monday we start in earnest in Hawkes Bay, one of the most exciting regions of New Zealand.
The De la Terre winery (delaterre.co.nz), owned by Kaye and Tony Prichard, focuses on a wonderfully diverse mix of French and Italian grape varieties, and both traditional and extremely modern wine making methods to produce fabulous wines.
On Tuesday we will tour Wineworks, a specialist bottling company before visiting Trinity Hill (trinityhill.com)
where we will discover the excitement of the famous Gimblett Gravels, and finish the day at Craggy Range (craggyrange.com), a stunning winery in the dramatic setting of Cape Kidnappers.
I look forward to reporting on how these visits go, and to our further adventures in this beautiful country.