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.

The air was heady with freshly roasted curry spices contained in blue swimmer crab. I had walked into David Thompson’s up close and personal cooking classes at the James Street Cooking School in uptown Brisbane, in Fortitude Valley yesterday.

David has been visiting the country to support his third cook book release Thai Street Food (pictured) Penguin Lantern (AUD 109.99); although his original and wonderful restaurant Darley Thai in Sydney’s Newtown later moved to Kings Cross, setting the scene for his depth of knowledge on Thai culture and cooking habits.

David says, “The Thais are the most compulsive eaters – we call this grazing – that you could imagine. They are always eating, and as street food is so accessible, their eating habits follow the rhythm of the day – are not always just in the morning, at noon and at night – as the way this book is segmented. Their eating is a compulsion.”

I quickly learnt that David had now let go the reins of his fab Michelin-starred Nahm London restaurant to Matthew Albert at the Halkin Hotel in Belgravia. He has always spent 5-6 months of each year in Thailand, researching more food styles and updating knowledge whilst incumbent head at Nahm.

It would be eventual that he open his own gig in Bangkok, and this may well occur in a few months. David was understandably noncommittal on the detail as contracts had not yet been settled.

I pressed him on his wine list aspirations. “Without doubt I will employ a sommelier to give the restaurant the kind of edginess that flatters the detail which I take with my food preparation.” But when asked on his opinion of Thai wine he was most dismissive of the quality not being there, giving me the impression it would be some time before a Thai origin bottle will make it to his table.

That will happen! Several Thai nationals have now studied winemaking in Australia and elsewhere; and with better site selection for vineyards some good drops will emerge. David has the perception that such high temperatures and high humidity are not good connections with grape growing.

That early Thai wines have been made from table grape varieties which crop twice a year gives connotations of thin flavourless wine. Vines which sit around in pools of water and incessant rain clearly cannot produce highly flavoured wine expected in a fine dining establishment.

When Thai vineyards are planted specifically for wine varieties (and there are some already under way) in areas with rain shadows we can expect a top Thai drop.

Thai Street Food as a book is truly beautiful in pictorial (and is weighty) with full double pages of food scenes – in the markets, on the street and in canals.

He has captured the pulse of the cooking, then produced 400 recipes of his own design after interviewing many street cooks. This has taken him away from the typical region cuisines which are quite style-specific to a mélange from other races – Indian and Chinese which have made indelible food style influences in the last 400 years.

Street food has not been part of Thai lifestyle for too long. Only since the 1960s did we see sales vans spill out into the street. It has been associated with the rural migration to the cities and increased affluence where eating out affordably is ideal for a time-poor worker.

Don’t forget Thompson is a fundamental chef – so his recipes present with all the basics so don’t count on buying a tube of green curry paste or your version and his version of any dish will be totally different.

That was his theme at his Brisbane cooking class – and I cannot wait to blend the curry powder for seafood.

This week will have a historic auction evening in Hong Kong when both 750 ml and 1500 ml (magnums) of Penfolds Grange go up for sale.

There are ten known 750ml sets of Grange (1951-2004) around with the most recent acquired in an Australian auction in 2007 for AU$250,000 (HK$1.75 M, excluding the auctioneer’s premium). This will be Lot 2.

Lot 1 is also a first – that of magnums of Grange (1979-2004) which clearly age slower than their classic warm area equivalents in 750ml.

The sale is at the Langham in Kowloon; coinciding with the Hong Kong International Wine and Spirits Fair, and the wines have been displayed at the Langham since the October 26 in their pretty Transtherm wine cabinets. Bidders can register at www.cellarlink.hk for the evening auction, accompanied by dinner.

At 10am that morning, to get in the swing of what Grange is and why the great Aussie red can last so long, my esteemed colleague Nick Bulleid MW will hold a tasting of ’85, ’90, ’95, ’98 and ’02 Grange. Trot along and see if the ’90 is still a young classic – it regularly changes hands in Oz for around the AUD 500-600 mark and is top value after the 2004 hit the streets this year @ AU$695.

Cellar Link is the inspiration of Australian Eamon Egan who has established an online presence this year with sales of classic, rare and exemplary Australian wines around the globe.

On Oct. 4 Reuters reported that Hong Kong took the top spot among the major wine markets for fine wine ahead of New York and London when Sothebys sale peaked at USD$7.9 million. Late the previous month the US wine merchant Acker, Merrall and Condit sold US$6.4 million of top shelf wines in their First Asian event.

London-based Christies report that 61% of their global sales in London, New York and Hong Kong are to Asian buyers; and while Hong Kong sales are improving, they think the market is overheated. The top lots are mainly Domaine de la Romanee Conti burgundies which are historically produced in tiny quantities for the world, and resold on the secondary markets. Cases that are turning over include 90 DRC (12) HK$242,000; 99 La Tache (6) for HK$154,200; 99 DRC mixed (12) HK$202,300 and 05 La Tache (6) for HK$178,500.

Last weekend the New York-based Zachys held its October Sale 30-31 at the Mandarin Oriental. The buyers frenzy to date has been essentially for top Burgundy and Bordeaux; let’s see what blue chip Aussie delivers.