The Wine and Spirits Asia trade show staged its biggest ever wine competition in Singapore recently – Wine Challenge 2010.

As an observer with over 80 show judgings under the belt it is interesting to follow how our northern colleagues are taking ownership of wine judgings.

And I can report that WSA was once a twee kind of wine show – I was in attendance on the first year and requested to participate as a judge.

That request was declined with a deafening silence. It was a matter of who you knew not what you know.

As with the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Competition last year, the majority of judges were Asian participants – a thoroughly presentable idea now.

The last position however on the team is the chief judge; a person with an enormous responsibility as overall results reflect on the leadership taken.

Both competitions have relied on non-Asian chief judges with high international respect, and far more experience than local judges at present.

In Singapore, US-born, German-domiciled Joel Payne presided, and in Hong Kong, Australian and Moet and Chandon roving expert Dr Tony Jordan were the top officials.

I guess the next transition is to mentor some leading Asian palates towards undertaking formal wine judging studies to build greater self-belief. It’s a matter of recognising a trophy-winning wine as opposed to a plain bronze medal on the tasting bench.

It’s also a bit more about understanding both statistics and the process of finalising the top results so that justice is seen to be done. It avoids the strange results like Singapore.

One recommended event is the Australian Wine Research Institute‘s bi-annual Advanced Wine Assessment Short Course – an independent training ground for Australian wineries and budding wine judges. Expressions of interest close June 7 for the 20 plus places.

The other event which is more international and classics-focussed is the Len Evans tutorial held annually in the Hunter Valley – immortalising the talent and high support ethic of the late Len Evans towards mentoring the younger generations into the role of future chief judges. Applications close August 7. The tutorial runs for five days and accepts 12 scholars annually.

An example of the talent outputs of the Len Evans Tutorial is Yarra Valley Gen Y winemaker Tom Carson, now chief judge of Canberra Wine Show this past two years.

The challenge is out there for our Asian friends. This next level of wine standards and the experience required might avoid less credible results.

I am referring to the Singapore best wine trophy going to a NZ Sauvignon Blanc (debatably a second rate variety) over the more internationally-respected varieties (Champagne blend), Cabernet and Merlot, and Shiraz.

So a Sauvignon outpointed a Bordeaux in a consumer environment more hell-bent on drinking red wine than herbal-green unwooded white. Or is this telling marketers something about east Asian future trends? I suggest not.

It’s a big occasion when six Australian brands make the Power 100 List of leading wine brands for 2010, compiled by Intangible Business (UK & USA).

But that said, there is little glitter left on the Brand Australia model which showed double digit export growth a few years ago.

Save for Yellowtail I am wondering if this recognition is the knock-on effect from these big company brands made of “refinery” wine that has now led to Australian wines coming back to the field.

Sitting in tank around the country there is more of it, equivalent to a year or more export supply, irrespective of the outcome of the 2010 harvest (1.53 million tonnes).

According to Power Drinks “The biggest wine climber in the Top 20 is Chilean wine brand Concha Y Toro, which climbs five places to number 17. Other big climbers in The Power 100 are the American wine brand Robert Mondavi, which jumps six places to number 31 on this year’s table and Australian wine brand Lindemans, which climbs eight places to number 55.

Established brands to drop out of The Power 100 include Banrock Station, Dom Perignon, Kumala, Lanson and Taittinger. Banrock of course comes from the same camp as Hardys, so is captured there anyway, although its owners would beg to differ.

Clearly the GFC has hosed down the popularity of Champagne but that will re-appear in future assessments, in particular Dom Perignon which is everywhere.

When pulling out the wine brands from the list of 100 which includes spirit brands (they dominate the Top 10) the list in order of wine brand rating goes 1. Gallo (US), 2. Concha Y Toro (Chile), 3. Robert Mondavi (US), 4. Yellowtail (Aust), 5. Hardys (Aust), 6. Beringer (US), 7. Jacob’s Creek (Aust), 8. Sutter Home (US), 9. Lindemans (Aust), 10. Blossom Hill (US).
By a country mile the largest US maker Gallo is number one, and has been five years running, and Yellowtail has correctly assumed the number one (Place 4) both as the big Australian brand and a reliable drink at the value level.

Of the Power 100, the New World prevailed – seven US and six Australian wine brands dominate the scene, and as reported Champagne dropped off. Of all the European table wine makers only the Spanish winemaker Torres made number 79.

Nearly 10,000 brands in the spirits and wine sectors were researched to derive a list of the 100 most powerful spirits and wine brands in the world. Power is defined by a brand’s ability to generate value for its owner. Value is classified by a series of measures. The population for the research is all current and potential users of alcoholic drinks.

For full details www.drinkspowerbrands.com

Sommeliers Australia – our wine tasting professionals are a very active crew.

I blew in on a chardonnay tasting run by the Queensland chapter: wines were assembled by Ortiga restaurant’s Matt Brook.

He teased De Bortoli’s Gourmet Traveller Young Winemaker of the Year-Cowra-born Sarah Fagan to come by and chat about the first flight from the Yarra.

Quite soon the discussion was about the dual climates of the place, firstly the Yarra floor where all the robust cool climate chardonnays take shape.

That meant De Bortoli Reserve 2007 (90) USD 41 and Tarrawarra Estate 2008 (88) USD 17.

The upper section of the Yarra starts across the Warburton Highway, has a totally different climate and later, cooler ripening patterns which stress the acidic minerality.

Some makers source sparkling base in the same area I have known in the past as Hoddles Creek.

Wines were PHI 2008 (95) USD 41, Mac Forbes Woori Yallock 2008 (94) USD 31.50 and Punt Road 2008 (92) USD22; all terrific wines with the common thread of high natural acidity showing minerality.

But that’s where it stopped; PHI was sphinx-like with its withdrawn nose, coiled up fruit, lean kernel-like fruit; Mac Forbes has played with solids to add the funk factor, while Punt Road also comes from the PHI vineyard but harvested a little later.

Of the second group two chardonnays stood out-Freycinet Reserve 2008 (95) USD27 from Tasmania; following the pHi mould with nose restraint, hints of lemon and candy oak, then a very smart textural experience running mainly alongside the high natural acidity. Fab.

The second is Gippsland’s Caledonia Australis 2007 (96) USD 27, showing more complexity than the rest of the bunch, coupled up with subtle but feral wild yeast, solids there, some malo-lactic, old oak barrel complexity, then great palate focus, square but high, high acid and minerality ever so stoney.

Clearly the modern styles of cool area chardonnay are standing out with their repressed fruit boundaries, disguised oak and long, savoury tail.

Holding up the second fiddle are the older styles; fatter, with slicks of higher-ripeness fruit and a propensity to fatten rather than age in the tighter mould of their superseding styles.

The group agreed that all chardonnays are in demand; the market is going in every direction.

But those that are less obvious but textured now compete with sauvignon while eating our brighter, spiced foods.

For the last portion of this decade some wine journalists, many from the UK, maintained a slow and unending criticism over Australian shiraz and cabernet being alcohol high.

Put better for tasting terms, that means alcohol hot in the back of the throat, or lip-burning if the level is over 16 percent.

In earlier days it was easy to line up on one side against the other because the guy to kick in the U.S. was Robert Parker.

He was praising these super-ripe lumps of shiraz which simply collapsed over time to reveal their imbalance, partly from high alcohol.

And now many UK scribes are gratuitously praising the 2009 Bordeaux for their quality yet stepping around the fact that alcohol level in most right bank merlots runs between 14.5 and 15.3 percent. Left bank cabernets are hitting mid-14s.

The crazy issue is that big super-structured reds (low-crop, fully ripe tannins, near excessive oak handling) will not show their alcohol at the point of sale, as with en primeur when barrel samples are being handed around.

The real point to make with Bordeaux products is the longevity-wines are asked to have a reputation to age, and cash in with the secondary auction market.

The sunny 2003 vintage is showing that pattern of jammy cabernets, and is not a vintage I embrace.

Excessively ripe reds do not look good when they dry out – the alcohol factor becomes demeaning, and drinkability slips.

The best examples are the early decade Parker-pointed cult Barossa shiraz which now look like dry ports, and have fallen from grace in the U.S. market to become humble drinks.

This writer sounds the alarm that UK writers are walking into the jaws of the unknown with unqualified, unstinting praise for the 2009s. That’s what hype does.

And the wines have current poise and structure, but surely after venting many vocal English spleens upon Aussie reds the path would be very clear for the future.

To answer, wines over 14.5 percent don’t have much of an aging future – so drink them young when alcohol does not show, should be an obvious recommendation!

And what Bordeaux have “hot alcohol”?

Decanter’s Steven Spurrier says “Cos d’Estournel at 14.5 abv and Haut-Brion at 14.3 abv are certainly high alcohol wines in the history of Bordeaux, but both are balanced by high tannins and a refreshing acidity.”

Well, that remains to be seen with future reviews, and auction ratings two decades away, by which time all the wine will be sold, ridiculously-priced.

Spurrier summarises “2009 just happened to be a very ripe vintage and when Bordeaux gets it ripe, it gets it right.”