It was one of those drunken ideas that probably should have been left in the bar — along with their bags, credit cards and most of their brain cells. “We like Spanish red wine!” an NZBC blogger yelled; redundantly, as it turned out, since a quantity of it was already dribbling down his front. “We should write a side-by-side Rioja review!” slurred his fellow blogger, as they tumbled headlong down the stairs of their favourite watering hole and into the gutter. It wasn’t a bad idea, but it turned out to be far more difficult than they had thought it would be. Our aspiring “wine experts” will be strangers neither to readers of NZBC nor to Auckland’s long-suffering bartenders. Director of the World Service Mark Broatch is NZBC’s Rioja evangelist, while Director of Light Entertainment Chris Bell describes himself as, “a pisshead from way back”. But they were both strangers to reviewing wine and quickly found themselves out of their depth. Nevertheless, the two repaired to Casa del Bello with a bag of roasted almonds and three of the best Riojas available from Auckland’s wine suppliers in the under-$50 price range. Several hours and two big headaches later, the winner was revealed. Read the red-stained results here.