The inaugural Asia-Oceanic Final of Best Sommelier Competition held recently turned up the winner Satoru Mori (Japan), Franck Moreau (Australia) second and Nobuhiro Tani (Japan) third.

Mr Mori, a former Sommellier du Monde now goes to the World Final representing the region in Chile next April 2010 for Best Sommelier in the World.

With Tokyo restaurants now ascending to having more Michelin stars than Paris, and Japan having more than 13,000 sommeliers the standard of wine knowledge is quite high.

Both Mr Mori and Mr Tani are sommeliers at LaTour d’Argent at Tokyo’s Hotel New Otani.

Sommelier’s Australia (SA) entrants Franck Moreau (Merivale Group) and David Lawler (Rockpool, Melbourne) were very last minute as Australia has gained observer status. The new enlivened SA joined with L’Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) to participate. Both men made the competition of 20 sommeliers from ten countries in the region.

Competitors had it tough! The competition must be completed in a second language, originally French but any language now that the ASI is truly international. So Franck chose English and David chose French.

What was in the competition? Fifty written questions, two blind taste tests, tasting a dish for a wine complement, three blind spirit tests in three minutes and a practical exam serving wine in four minutes (just like good dining service ought to be).

Both Australians were well prepared after the entry of the Court of Master Sommeliers to Australia in 2008 and the accelerated participation by Australian sommeliers in the Court’s courses -sommeliers come from all Australian states and New Zealand. www.mastersommeliers.org

The Court has become the SA examining body with sommeliers completing a certified exam for entry. Returning this year the Court represented by four Master Sommeliers (MS) examined 106 eager palates commencing with a two-day introductory course which had a ninety percent pass rate.

Of these sixty-eight took the Certified exam with forty-one passing as Certified Sommeliers. The top ten sommeliers were encouraged to sit the next level-Advanced in either the US or UK held in 2010.

One of the group was a terrific sommelier from Ecco Bistro, Alan Hunter.

The designation MS by a sommelier carries a high reputation, and no doubt the level of credibility provided by the examiners of that organisation, having certain parallels with the Institute of Masters of Wine who confer the qualification Master of Wine (MW) which is more wine writing and wine knowledge than wine service which extends into food, spirits and cigars.

Sommeliers Australia re-organised with joint chairs-Ben Moechtar (Delicado Foods Sydney) and Ben Edwards-pictured (The Wine Guide and contributor to James Halliday’s Wine Companion) drawing the inputs together from the two major restaurant states for these past two years.

Recently Ben Edwards (above) became chair of SA for 2010 with wider board involvement. Queensland’s board member is Peter Marchant. www.sommeliers.com.au

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Australian Alternative Varieties Wineshow (AAVWS) in Mildura. Now that’s a feat because it is still going successfully.

In a country where there is a wine show of some kind almost every week of the year this one has maintained its presence.

However, the interest in this show has been aided by the growth in planting new varieties, being mainly the developing interest of competent nurseryman Bruce Chalmers.

Within a short period of time Bruce had built up an enormous repository of sangiovese and other Italian varieties, clone by clone that became available to the Australian grape growing public.

This came about by forming a trading link with two major commercial Italian nurseries who supplied direct access to planting material equal to that used by any local Italian grape producer.

Those early AAVWS events did not receive the support of the country’s major wine producers but now I can confidently report that the 2009 show has turned the interest around in spectacular fashion.

And that has to be when you see a terrific Jacob’s Creek Tempranillo 2008 on the market at AUD $9.

Granite Belt winemaker Peter Stark of Boireann is not a regular exhibitor in Australian wine shows yet he entered in the AAVWS with two wines this year and made the trek to Mildura to join the hilarity of dressing down at presentation time. And of course enjoy the local fare of star chef Stefano de Pieri who showcases these varietal wines.

Peter says: “As a producer growing new varieties and wishing to diversify some more, I found it positively intriguing with the level of wine style development in this country in such a short time space. So many varieties will become outstanding wine examples.”

From Peter’s standpoint its’ a matter of what becomes commercial. He currently grows entirely red varieties-barbera, nebbiolo, tannat, mourvedre and contract-makes sagrantino.

The stars of the show were nebbiolos, which is interesting given the host of Australian winemakers who have trekked to Barolo to observe this difficult and tannic grape in its home setting. SC Pannell Nebbiolo 2007 (AUD $50) took out Best Italian varietal and Best Red Wine of the Show with an Adelaide Hills origin wine. The same wine went on to gain Best Wine of Show and stamp itself as a great nebbiolo. www.pannell.com.au

Another nebbiolo business of interest and with good sommelier following is Peter Gooden’s La Linea company’s brand Arrivo; and whose less priced Arrivo Nebbiolo 2007 (AUD $60) took gold and out-pointed his single vineyard Arrivo Lunga Macerazione 2007 (AUD $115) which took silver. www.arrivo.com.au

Peter Stark entered his Boireann La Cima Barbera 2008 (AUD $45), a deftly varietal style with the normal cutting acidity and texture. Peter said “I questioned the decision of the judges when a 15.5% alcohol Barbera scored a gold; and in sync with the trending down of alcohols, was told by the chief judge that it was ok!”

His Shiraz Tannat 2008, 55%/45% (AUD 45) fared better in the full bodied blend class with bronze. www.boireannwinery.com.au

The AAWS have started to sort out the market confusion with pinot grigio/gris by splitting the two styles as “dry, crisp and crunchy” for grigio and “rich and full bodied” for gris-taking into account that exhibitors are quite likely to have the labelling reversed for the style! This variety has become the dominant white variety of the show.

It is still a small show with 600 entries but will continue to create enormous exhibitor interest as the development ground for new wine styles in the coming decade. www.aavws.com . However wines from Fosters and Constellation are now appearing in the entry list.

Meanwhile, former nurseryman Bruce Chalmers has now sold his propagation interests, and can be found in North Queensland, missing the tough Murray sunscope but selling alternative wine varieties internationally under the Murray Darling brand; www.murraydarlingcollection.com.au