Moutere Hills Nelson Rumor 2018 $54 
I’m a sucker for a wine named after a much-loved pet (in this case winemaker Rusty’s trusty kelpie), especially when it’s an unusually tasty blend of merlot, syrah and cabernet sauvignon like this one. Earthy-hued and cloudy (reflecting its unfined, unfiltered nature), it has a dusty plum and earthy cherry complexity on the nose alongside a whoomph of smoked vanilla from the combination of French and American oak barrels in which it was fermented and matured.
