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

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.