Air New Zealand Wine Awards tasting event kicks off

Twenty-six judges will look, swirl, sniff, sip, gargle and spit more than 1400 wines for this year’s Air New Zealand Wine Awards. The prestigious three-day tasting event, now in its 40th year, is being held at Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland. A total of 1424 wines across 16 classes were entered into this year’s competition. Marlborough wines topped entries this year with 588 wines, followed by Hawke’s Bay with 323 entries, Otago with 184 entries and Nelson with 101 entries.