The dust has settled over the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirit fair. It was the first in its new format with Asian palates firmly in control of the award results.

Although there have been many competitive wine shows in HK this was the inaugural one for all-Asian judging panels save the chief judge who was Australian. Past HK shows have been structured around European event organisers who tended to fly in most of the judging panels rather than scout locally. So the definition of a wine expert “as someone from out of town” is now dead in HK.

Judges from Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan participated although the actual judges list is yet to be provided.

An even greater challenge was to hold part of the judging while serving food, seeking Asian wine flavor and texture matches. Very heroic but logistically difficult.

When do you serve the food? At the start-no; too many wines to test. I gather the organisers just served the gold medal wines up four times-against braised abalone, Kung Pao chicken, dim sum and Peking duck to find out what worked.

The answer was amazing because there was no Bordeaux or cabernet to be found-as the French keep telling the Chinese. And the Chinese keep reciprocating by adding coke, sprite or Pepsi to their Bordeaux because they cannot stand its tannin attack and require palate respite with sweetness.

Well good wine matches came from a faintly pink off-dry bubbly (Australia’s Jacob’s Creek Rose NV), a sweet and fizzy, low alcohol muscat (California’s Martin & Weyrich Moscato Allegro 2007), a medium bodied chewy dry white (NZ Wairau River Pinot Gris 2009) and a medium weight dry red varietal malbec (Argentina’s Judas 2006) respectively.

So the judges are providing some leadership as to what every day wines will suit every day cuisines in East Asia-and not often cabernet. Fruity and mildly-flavoured wines are preferred.

Another wine show which historically tests wines with food courses is the Sydney International run by Warren and Jacqueline Mason. They do a first round of tasting, then for the successful entries the chief judge rearranges the wines into groups by body; light body, medium body, full body regardless of variety, then the shortlisted groups, usually 12-14 wines are tasted with respective courses of increasing flavour intensity; www.top100wines.com .

The Australian giant killer was the tiny Eden Springs vineyard owned by Ray Gatt who bagged four trophies-Best white below HK 150 (Riesling 2009), Best red below HK 200 (Barossa Shiraz 2007), Best Shiraz and Best Australian Shiraz (Eden Valley 2007). www.edensprings.com.au

Ray says “This success in HK has vindicated my judgement to purchase and revitalise this vineyard. I took over Eden Springs from Meredith Hodgson, the spouse of the deceased Richard Wiencke, in February 2006. She came home from work one day in 2005 to find that Richard had passed away from a heart attack in his Eden Springs vineyard. He was previously the assistant editor for the Advertiser in Adelaide, but left in the early 1990’s to pursue his vineyard dream.”

Eden Springs HK importer Hermann Hofmann says “On one of my wine sales trips to Malaysia in 2003, I met Richard Wiencke previous owner. He brought a bottle of High Eden Shiraz 1999 and my first sip of it was “love at first sight.” The Shiraz’s flavors stroke me, because of the strong dark berry fruit and chocolate notes which both reminded me so much of my youth home in the Swiss Alps. The 1999 was a very pleasant and unique shiraz with super elegance.”

“I am very pleased to see, that Ray Gatt’s investment into Eden Springs, his choice of the fabulous wine makers and team indeed further elevated the quality of wine and Eden Spring’s ability to win Trophies and gold medals,” says Hermann.

Australian gold and trophies continued: John Quarisa’s Treasures Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 (AUD 15) from Coonawarra for best Cabernet/Cabernet Blend; Stella Bella Chardonnay 2007 (AUD 29) in Margaret River (gold in Brisbane RNA but pipped for the top gold by a Queensland chardonnay last July ) going one higher for best Chardonnay and best New World Chardonnay; Petaluma’s Hanlin Hill Riesling 2009 (AUD 22) from Clare taking best Riesling and best New World Riesling and Ben Riggs Mr Riggs Yakka Paddock Tempranillo 2007 (AUD 25) from the Adelaide Hills taking best Tempranillo and Blends. www.hkwinefair.hktdc.com

I heard the organisers were rushed with entries, and changed tasting rooms in order to accommodate the judging load. Chief judge Dr Tony Jordan of Moet and Chandon Australia fame had a challenging time in managing the Asian interpretation and voices on wine style, but achieved commendable outcomes.

I understand Tony’s most recent project is seeking sparkling wine sites in China. No doubt he is chasing vineyard elevation!

A story in the October 31 Wine Spectator gained my immediate attention because it was either plain wrong or misreported. An enology professor at Purdue University (where the annual Indy Wine Competition is held) Christian Butzke was reported as saying that cork taint (TCA) was on the decline; and that its incidence in cork-closed wines was less than one per cent.

That same report sent renowned Australian Gourmet Traveller writer and wine reviewer Huon Hooke on a similar path to this writer to review the current status of cork intervention during the enjoyment of your chosen bottle. As luck would have it most southern hemisphere wines are now closed with screw caps so that the ability to detect a cork tainted wine has dropped immeasurably.

But imported European wines remain on the increase and they are generally closed with cork. The best evidence of how destructive cork can be was at a recent 2005 vintage White Bordeaux versus McWilliams Lovedale Semillon tasting held in Sydney in September www.langtons.com.au/magazine/caillard. This was reported by my colleague Andrew Caillard MW who pointed out two bottles of Chateau Haut Brion Blanc 2005 were destroyed by cork taint and a virtual waste of the AUD 2000 spent purchasing them for this tasting.

Therefore there remains a high chance that you will be dudded at whatever price point you buy wine closed with cork-it’s just a matter of what percentage of times this is likely to occur that screams in my mind. In the case of the Haut Brion Blanc it was thirty-three percent (two out of a case of six)!

The best independent determinant of this percentage is the organisation which conducts the annual Advanced Wine Assessment Courses for budding wine judges – the Australian Wine Research Institute (AWRI). They are an internationally-recognized group which publicises the latest in wine knowledge.

The AWRI says it had run at 8 percent for years but has dropped to around 6 percent now. Still too high though and confrontingly different from the good US professor’s report. More course participants will become part of believing the AWRI’s claims as they now take this successful event to the United Kingdom and Asia in the higher level education about wine faults.

Despite the public relations blast coming out of the Amorim camp (they own the largest part of the cork market) there is still intense technical research scrutiny over the preformance of all closures. If it were not why would one of the first international collaborative commercial closure trials ever have been bottled in Australia last August?

Wineries who wish to be involved can still do so by contacting Dr Terry Lee (a previous director of AWRI and a former Vice President of E&J Gallo), now retired but still clever enough to drive this closure investigation and put another nail into the natural cork coffin.

I think highly of the particle cork product DIAM, and it prevents cork problems. It’s new brother MYTIK, the sparkling cork made from the same TCA-free material is excellent. MYTIK sparkling corks are now the exclusive choice of Champagne Moet and Chandon’s 100,000 annual cases of sparkling Chandon Australia range of wines.

On November 14 The Weekend Australian Magazine writer James Halliday revealed his Top 100 wines – and tasted 1652 wines to find them. For under AUD 20 whites, 0.4% were under cork, under AUD 20 reds, 0.08% under cork, over AUD 20 whites 3.9% under cork and over AUD 20 reds 25.7% under cork.

No doubt the major choice of the over AUD 20 reds was non-natural cork to dodge the TCA.

The 2009 George Mackey Trophy has been awarded to a little known McLaren Vale maker called Sabella.

And what a terrific result after Penfolds Wines have had a mortgage on this annual export trophy for the past three years.

The George Mackey is a memorial trophy judged annually between all wines exported-that means as the export inspectors do their daily task of tasting export submissions they are asked to put aside the names of wines which score highly-like gold medals.

At the end of the trading year for Wine Australia-an Australian statutory industry body managed as a corporation but established and run under Federal Government guidance, a big tasting of selected wines from the past inspection year-2008-2009 is held. www.wineaustralia.com

And that is where the Sabella Cabernet Sauvignon 2005 emerged. It headed 16,716 other export wines which were in contention this past year.

I have to admit that I do not know of this brand nor company, but that’s no big issue because I am checking them out for the first time.

The wine’s win was an honour for the McLaren Vale region, Sabella winemaker Michael Petrucci said. “My father (Joe) has spent 35 years in the region and I am committed to honouring his tradition and encouraging greater recognition of Australia’s fine wines”.

Sabella Vineyards was founded in 1975 by Joe and Rosa Petrucci on 15 hectares next to the famed Wirra Wirra. Joe and Wirra Wirra’s late Greg Trott became best friends.

The Petrucci’s now own 40 adjoining hectares and son, Michael, making wine since 1999, producing up to 4,000 cases a year, 40% of which is exported to Asia. www.sabella.com.au

The wine giant Fosters Wine Estates have had a firm grip over this trophy by winning it three times on end with the brand Penfolds ; in 2008 with 2005 Yattana Chardonnay, in 2007 with Bin 707 Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, and in 2006 with RWT Shiraz 2003.

The previous year another unknown -Mt Toolleen Barossa Shiraz 2002 was a repeat of what Sabella has done in 2009.

There is clearly a trend amongst the wines which win the big red trophies-a strong representation from McLaren Vale firstly and the Barossa Valley second. These regions just keep re-occurring.

Both Shingleback and Scarpantoni winning Jimmy Watsons with cabernet and now another McLaren Vale cabernet coming up trumps here-in front of the great Australian cabernet regions-Yarra, Coonawarra and Margaret River. It has to be about drinkability!

And Michael Petrucci has every reason to be doubly proud – about his wine and the region McLaren Vale.

Celebrity chef demos are big drawcards at Australian food gigs. And floating around the Good Food and Wine Show in Brisbane this weekend (at the Convention Centre) were Masterchef celebs George Calombaris and Gary Mehigan.

There is trumpet, there is fanfare and decibels of entertainment wrapped around chefs slicing, grilling, patting and plating – all the way with cute dialogue to keep 800 aspirant entertaining stars of tomorrow totally enthralled. But the onlookers cannot taste the demo dishes – just two invited guests from the floor. Cost? AUD 2.50 entry on top of the AUD 20.00 at the door.

As you get the hunger pains there is the nearby Wild Oats Restaurant serving the stage dishes of Alastair McLeod (Bretts Wharf), Matt Moran (Aria Brisbane), Tobie Puttock (Fifteen Melbourne) and Gary Mehigan (Masterchef).

Most of the noise is focussed around the Lifestyle FOOD Channel Celebrity Theatre. The wine section progressed quietly with hordes of tasters in the queue for the 70-seat Riedel Wine Theatre touching on the standard subjects – regions, how to understand the drop, modern styles, traditional styles and general wine practicalities.

For more select engagement 25 people gathered in Riedel’s nearby Decanter Bar for some predictable subjects: shiraz, chardonnay, bubbles, author Matt Skinner pairing food, burgundy, pinot and Mediterranean newbies.

The last class each day (the Show went three days) was Riedel the glass people’s turn with decanting talks – very fitting though not very essential these days with so many young wines drunk soon after bottling.

Not all wineries exhibit at this show but there was good regional coverage. And given that Australia’s future sales image has been cast at the higher value, perceptibly better wines generally made in non-industrial quantities, then the regional groups are better at underlining the site-specific produce of this land.

The demographic: mainly females expecting to have a day out, 25-54, staying 3-5 hours at the Show. If they wished for any recipes, a touchscreen menu gave free entry to a post-show service dubbed accessallareas for 50 recipes from the celeb theatre, cooking school, restaurant, demo videos, wine tips and interviews plus backstage footage.

So that’s how to relive the experience!

More info at www.goodfoodshow.com.au . The visitor expectation is 20,000.

But if organisers wish to find a greater attendance, then throw in controversial “bad boy” chef Gordon Ramsey as a leading star.

At past Good Food and Wine Shows this year in Melbourne and Sydney his media coverage swelled the crowds to 42,000 and 44,000 respectively. Aspirant masterchefs just had to see what the fuss was about.