One of the great skills of an accomplished wine taster is to assess blind a set of international cabernets placing each one’s country of origin.

So that was the task for a group of Brisbane sommeliers on the training trail yesterday.

Master of Wine Andrew Corrigan led the instruction on seven cabernets.

Cullen Diana Madeline Cabernet Merlot 2004 Margaret River (14%) 94 is the only screw-capped player. Very vivid purple colour for a six-year-old; plush and plump nose, no burnt characters, palate fruity, black fruits, powdery, grainy tannin, drying but fresh, lengthy flavours. USD 62

Chateau Clos de Latour 2002 Graves Bordeaux Superior (14%) 92 is a little faded in colour, tale telling oyster shell nose of maturing Bordeaux, herbal, fresh, medium bodied, very fine, firm, fresh tannin, lots of after palate richness. Both the tannin level and aromas point to Bordeaux merlot, cabernet, franc, petit verdot. USD 15

Chateau St Jean 2005 Sonoma (14.2%) 91 had a very tight cork, great colour though showing age, lots of New World jam, sweet and sour ripeness, cedary oak, palate of big richness, more full bodied than medium, sweet fruit, intense powdery tannins of the powerful kind. USD 27

Te Mata Estate Awatea 2007 NZ Hawkes Bay (14%) 90 is inky purple, very young, though light colour intensity, plush nose, minty, shows earthiness and oak, chocolate-rich palate, very soft and round, therefore non-Bordeaux, cabernet, franc, merlot, petit verdot. USD 31

Zema Estate 2005 Coonawarra (15.5%) 90, closed with Procork has deep red, purples, sweet and sour fruits, mulberry, low oak, a juicy palate, complex, round and fruity, alcohol hot. USD 19

Kanonkop 2006 Stellenbosch South Africa (14%) 89 has light colour, purples, leafy green, quite smelly, cedary oak, then quite a tight tannin palate, lush but drying, good finish. USD 22

Chateau Pichon-Longueville 2003 Pauillac 2nd growth (13.5%) 86 has dense brick red, smells old and tired, bretty also, dried out palate, very tannic and bitter/astringent, fallen fruit no doubt. Where the cork has failed then that is the fault of the producer for selecting a poor closure; cabernet, merlot, petit verdot. USD 200

To learn this identification skill it’s just a matter of having the good instructor and representative cabernets.

Curiously one of the freshest wines was under screw cap.

Today owner Clive Paton visited the fair city of Brisbane on a mild winter day to serve 10 years of his Ata Rangi New Zealand pinot AUS$69 ($57).

Now this bloke has been a pioneer – one of four who planted pinot in the Martinborough area (on the southern tip of the North Island for those yet to cross the ditch).

This is a great exercise to get a real glimpse of 10 wines and decide how a single brand of this one variety expands over time. When are they good drinks – evolved to be seamless but not fully/over-mature when the cow yard characters phase in.

Ata Rangi in this set looks real good at 6-7 years from harvest/vintage; the 2004 smells juicy, sweet, plump in the mouth and complex flavoured while 2003 attractively smoky in nose and meaty/complex mature taste.

That’s the deal: if you wish to keep a treasured bottle or two then set them aside for such a drinking window.

And on the flip side, the 2009 was still in barrel, 2008 hugely-flavoured but exuberent, 2007 quite austere and zippy in acid, 2006 just beautiful, has perfume, a big complex meaty palate while 2005 was dumb (probably in a phase and will come out more mature).

The older wines; 2002, 2001, 2000 are nice mature wines with richness and texture, primary fruit now depleted in favour of secondary bits of herb, leaf, meat, earth, forest floor, truffle and other wonderful older flavours.

Points in descending order from 2009 are: 91, 95, 90, 92, 91, 95, 94, 86, 88, 89.

Clive tells us that 2002 was the wettest season on record since 1860, with the coldest, wet December ever so that he struggled to have the grapes ripen. Two years in ten are wet. When the grapes don’t ripen, the tannin will strangle your tongue.

So here we can summarise the Ata Rangi stereotype pinot noir. It is not a fluffy violet drink but one serious slurp – not pervading much in the florals (except as bottle age progresses), a brooding nose, knitted tight, showing just a tad of black fruit aromas, oak is hidden. Little lolly notes because the company do not use much whole bunches in ferments, and often none for tannin softening.

This company believes in pinot with serious tannin. The grapes are securely macerated to force the hand of nature to make a tightly coiled pinot, then let time uncoil it to produce sumptuous flavours.

And Ata Rangi is a pinot I can write about strenuously.

It is rated Five Stars in the Great NZ Pinot Classification- see http://asiancorrespondent.com/uncorked-and-cultivated/great-nz-pinot-classification-2010; assessed in January over the 2008, 2007 and 2006 released vintages. I tend to make my rating assessment more on its ability to age as this line of wine broods, and only slowly evolves. At the end it smiles and I support its classification.

Winemaker Helen Masters also makes a single vineyard wine – McCrone, who is a nearby grower for the company. Tasted were 2008 McCrone (96) and 2006 McCrone (94). www.atarangi.co.nz

Decanter UK magazine World Wine Awards is one of the handful of international wine competitions attracting over 10,000 entries.

That makes all Asian wine competitions look piddly in comparison. But this part of the world will eventually have its day as wine popularity continues.

After all Decanter now has a Chinese version of its magazine published from Taiwan.

My colleague Andrew Graham took the time to highlight the Australian trophies and gold medals shortly after their announcement during the London Wine Trade Fair – the largest trade event of the UK year: http://www.ozwinereview.com/2010/05/decanter-world-wine-awards-2010.html

The three major significant regional trophies (awarded from within Australian entries only) ought to be for best chardonnay, shiraz and cabernet sauvignon but there were seven.

The regional chardonnay over USD 14.50 went to a Margaret River wine; Cullen Kevin John 2007 (USD 62), it’s nice to get what you pay for; shadowed by another Margaret River, Voyager 2007 (USD 30), the famous Eileen Hardy 2008 from the Yarra and Tasmania (USD 55; best wine of show-Australian Wine Circuit 2009-2010), McWilliams’ fabulous Barwang Tumbarumba 842 2008 (USD 30) and the irrepressible Adelaide Hills McGuigan The Shortlist 2009 (USD 14.50).

One white trophy which the Peter Lehmann camp have virtually dominated for many years, even to the extent of taking a further trophy against German exhibitors, is Riesling over USD 14.50. This year it was with Wigan 2004 (USD 44).

There were two other white trophies, single varietal under and over USD 14.50 – both awarded to Hunter Valley semillons – McGuigan Bin 9000 2003 and Tyrrell’s HVD 2004 (USD 35).

And the most important wine trophy for Australian makers is shiraz (Rhone style) over UDS 14.50, and a surprise to identify the Riverina brand Nugan Estate taking the gong with Parish Vineyard from McLaren Vale 2008 (USD 10). Wines from this area have a habit of winning top red trophies due to their flavour generosity.

Other shiraz in contention were Angoves Vineyard Select 2008 from McLaren Vale (USD20), Glaetzer Wallace Shiraz Grenache 2008 Barossa (USD 22), three Murray Street Barossa wines – Sophia 2006 (USD 75), Gomersal 2007 (USD 55) and Benno 2006 (USD75), Pieri Azzardo 2008 McLaren Vale (USD 26), O’Leary Walker Claire from Clare 2006 (USD44), Schild Reserve 2007 Barossa (USD 50), Standish The Relic 2006 (USD 76) and Taylors Jaraman-Clare/McLaren Vale (USD 24).

Of note is the fact that not one Aussie shiraz in this line-up hails from a cool growing area, unlike the chardonnays, and this UK wine show clearly highlighted the big flavoured, probably highly-alcoholic warm region reds as a general preference.

This of course flies in the face of recent UK media criticism about these climate-change enhanced reds, probably judged by some of the same scribes who criticise the style.

So there is always a place for blind judging competitions – unlike the book reviewers who generally write tomes with the wine label in view.

http://www.decanter.com/worldwineawards/2010/results.php

The launch last month of Mercure Queensland hotels “Grand Vins” – great wine selection – is a real achievement for this big state.

I recently tasted the dozen wines served at the Mercure Brisbane’s Quay restaurant, greeting me as – Pure Pleasures – Autumn-Winter 2010 Collection.

All by-the-glass and reasonably priced – USD 5.40-6.60, I discovered wines grouped both by colour and snappy names.

In the bottles with green tags (TANGY AND TANTALISING) are a racy, tight pinot gris (Symphony Hill Reserve 09) USD 33 (88), cut grass, pea pod sauvignon (Tobin 09) USD 33 (87), and a bacony, buttery chardonnay (Witches Falls Wild Ferment 08) USD 29 (88).

The bottles with orange tags (FRUITY AND LIGHT), in demand today were a semi-mature, low alc semillon (Clovely Left Field 06) USD 27 (90), an appealing, crunchy, savoury sylvaner (Felsberg 09) USD 27 (91) and a melony, minerally verdelho (Sirromet 820 Above 09) USD 27 (88).

Next came maroon tags (BALANCED AND ELEGANT) for a merlot (Heritage Estate School Block 08) USD 31 (92) and a very snappy shiraz cabernet (Mt Tamborine Vineyards 07) USD 33 (91).

And the last group, russet tags (SPICY AND FULL BODIED) held a spicy shiraz (Ballandean Estate Family Reserve 07) USD 27.50 (87), a leafy, cut-grass cabernet (O’Reilly’s Canungra Valley 08) USD 27 (88), a juicy, lip-smacking tempranillo (Golden Grove 08) USD 30 (91) and an earthy, herbal cabernet franc (Rimfire 06) USD 31.50 (88).

These Queenslanders represent the Darling Downs, Granite Belt and South Burnett growing regions in true locovore fashion within 250 km of Brisbane.

Mercure hotels in Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns Harbourside stock these drops – sold from a standalone wine menu. And two badged Mercures-Mercure Clear Mountain Lodge and Mercure TreeTops Port Douglas dig into the selection to take a Queensland range.

The best aspect of this hotel group’s interest in focussing local was the obligatory training given to staff with wine diaries, food matching and theoretical wine assessment with on-line testing.

I’d think my wine was in good hands with these hotel restaurants pushing out such wares by a very clever, simple and unambiguous means.

The wine booklet cover bears the word “l’echanson”, an old French word for a butler or person you can trust with what you put in your mouth.

So I guess I put myself in the hands of the “l’echanseuses” at the Mercures.