I'll drink to this...

Here's a revolutionary wine-tasting experience. You go to a wine shop called Scenic Cellars in Taupo and ask to taste their wines.

They'll give you a plastic card. You then have the green light to wreak havoc through 32 wines rigged up to a snazzy Italian machine called Enomatic. By inserting the card and pressing the button above the wine you want to taste, a 30ml tasting measure is dispensed into your waiting glass.

The cost of each tasting is proportionate to the price of the wine. And they don't just put the cheap stuff on, either, which means you can taste a stunning $70 wine for just $4. If you don't like it, you haven't wasted $70 on it. And if you never had $70 to begin with, you can savour a mouthful of loveliness without taking out a bank loan.

We called in at Germany, Italy, France, South America, New Zealand and Australia for less than $25.

Enomatic works by pumping a layer of gas called argon into the top of each opened bottle. Argon is odourless, colourless and tasteless and acts like a tight-fitting blanket, protecting the opened wine from the air. This is the argon back-office - it looks a bit like a diver's kit in the '70s.

Scenic Cellars has two managers: Floris is a Cab Sav Bordeaux man with a penchant for blockbuster Ozzie Shiraz, whilst John favours Burgundy, Rhone and elegant Italians. So when it's time to switch a bottle on Enomatic there's always a healthy debate as to which wine to go for. Mind you, I'd fight over that, too. It requires pouring a measure and tasting it before it can be sold – just to check it's okay.

The big, tannic reds keep best - up to two weeks - as their tannins act as a natural preservative. But Floris and John never normally have to worry about wines being wasted – customers normally polish them off way before then.

Look out for Enomatic. Floris tells me it's being rolled out across the states and even in London. It's like Yo! Sushi by the glass.

www.sceniccellars.co.nz