78 wines, a brandy and a whisky blind tasted at DGB in Wellington on Thursday killed two birds with a single stone as our tasting coincided with the appellation’s annual Quest for the Best exercise. The view from the tasting room (below) confirms the auspicious situational variables in play.

I expected the Chenins and Shiraz to be good, and they were. But the two wines which blew my doors off were unexpected: a 2010 Malbec and a 2010 Mourvedre, or Mataro, if you speak ‘strine. Wonderfully clean and focused blackcurrant flavours. Cabernets disappointed (where were those juicy blueberries of yesteryear?) but the Cabernet blends were much better.