Kelly Murphy, liquor manager at Wanaka's New World supermarket, was one of eight people picked from the nationwide supermarket chain to be an associate judge at the New World Wine Awards in Wellington last week.
Alongside an independent panel of 12 judges - the final arbitrators of the competition's award winners - Ms Murphy was put through a rigorous blind-tasting session of more than 1000 wines.
Tasting more than 150 wines each day was a challenge, she said.
"I drank a lot of water to help maintain my concentration. You also end up eating a lot of olives while tasting reds, which helps remove tannins from the mouth."
Over-indulging in olives was not the only pitfall for the associate judges when tasting the many red wines entered, she said.
"We all developed a severe case of black teeth and they had to bring in specialist toothpaste for us all."
About 160 vineyards entered the annual competition, which has a consumer-orientated focus on choosing the best-value wines based on their affordability and availability, Ms Murphy said.
Wanaka New World's liquor manager for the past four years, she said the experience had widened her knowledge about what constitutes a good wine.
"You learn so much about the way to taste wine.
"It's not about what you like in a wine; you need to recognise the structure of it, the feel of the wine in your mouth, its finish, and the difference between acidity [for whites] and tannins [in reds],"It's really quite a complex process," Ms Murphy said.
As for her personal favourite?
"You can't go past a great Central Otago pinot noir on a cold evening," she said.
New World will announce its top 50 wines and the award winners on September 20.
