by Martin Field

Judging for the 2007 Queensland Wine awards took place at the Brisbane Sofitel on December 3 – with your kindly editor as one of the judges.

Three judging panels tasted some 340 wines from 55 Queensland wineries. A tiny number of contenders compared with, for instance, the Royal Melbourne Wine Show’s 4,000 plus entries. Not bad however, for a state that most southerners still see as an emerging wine region.

Obviously, I didn’t get to taste all the wines but of those I tried, I thought the verdelhos were very good, the merlots were also impressive.

In the taste off for the trophy awards, I rated the 2006 Hidden Creek Rooklyn Shiraz as outstanding.

Trophy winners
Best Fortified Wine: 1986 Ballandean Estate Wines Red Liqueur Muscat; Best Dessert Wine: 2006 Heritage Wines of Stanthorpe Botrytis Chardonnay; Best Red Wine: 2006 Hidden Creek Rooklyn Shiraz; Best White Wine: 2006 Kooroomba Vineyards Chardonnay; Best Sparkling Wine: 2006 Sirromet Wines Sparkling Petit Verdot.

Cringe factor?
Funnily enough, you don’t see many Queensland wines on Queensland restaurant wine lists. Reminds me of the Mornington Peninsula region 20 and more years ago. If you went into a Peninsula wine store or bottle shop and asked for a local wine the typical reply was, ‘Don’t get much call for that sort of stuff around here Sir.’

Prawns and Technicolour yawns
Travelling to and from Brisbane for the awards judging, I couldn’t help noticing that the coastal strip is a bit of a horror show for fine food lovers. Numerous fast food outlets whiz past the bus windows. Their garish shopfronts interspersed with a number of restaurants advertising that ghastly juxtaposition: ‘Surf and Turf’, or its inventive alternative, ‘Reef and Beef’.

‘It’s for the tourists.’ Locals explain lamely. Strange really. Tourists in France, for example, seem able to make do with superior food that doesn’t depend on meat and seafood piled on the one plate.

by Martin Field

Bridgewater Mill Sauvignon Blanc2007 – up to $23 – \_/\_/
Adelaide Hills, South Australia. Pungent bouquet of herbs and a tinge of asparagus. Light and dry on the palate with a touch of tropical fruit and clean acidity to finish. Try with entrées.

Green Point Sauvignon Blanc 2007 – $22 – \_/\_/
Victoria. Aromatic with lychees and a subtle influence of French oak. Fuller style of sauvignon with a rounded texture, passionfruit and some grassiness.

AU Verdelho 2006 – $16.50 – \_/\_/
Granite Belt, Queensland. Fruity nose reminiscent of ripe pears and pineapples. Generous, soft palate showing dried pears and finishing with mild acidity.

Blind Man’s Bluff Liaisons Chardonnay 2007 – $28 – \_/\_/\_/
Kenilworth, Queensland. This unwooded chardonnay displays an attractive nose of peaches, apricots and apples. Stone fruits continue on the palate and the wine finishes with tangy citrus acidity.

PHI Pinot Noir 2006 – around $50 – \_/\_/\_/\_/
Yarra Valley, Victoria. Perfumed nose of strawberry conserve and dusty oak. Medium weighted palate, dry and velvety tannins and lashings of lovely berries. One of the better pinots I have tasted this year.

Conte Estate Numb Hand Pruner Grenache 2006 – $18 – \_/\_/
McLaren Vale, South Australia. Nose of raspberries, stewed plums and alcohol (14.5%). Soft sweet berries on the palate lead to a warm juicy aftertaste. Main course wine.

Picarus Cabernet Sauvignon 2006 – $20-ish – \_/\_/\_/
Wrattonbully, South Australia. The bouquet of this wine shows blueberries, red currants and a hint of pencil shavings. The palate is youthful, showing good fruit intensity; the tannins and acidity are quite forward and probably need a couple of months to soften off a tad. Will cellar well.

Tahbilk Eric Stevens Purbrick Shiraz 2002 – $60-ish – \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/
Nagambie Lakes, Victoria. A worthy name for what was originally the Tahbilk Special Bin label. The wine opens with an inviting nose of spice, chocolate, blackberries, mint and aniseed. The palate is a complex mix of concentrated shiraz and integrated French oak, ably supported by lean, sinewy, drying tannins. If you’re looking for a special bottle for your Christmas dinner, or a wine gift, or one to cellar gracefully for another 10 to 15 years, this is the wine.

Spitbucket rating system
Five gold spitbuckets \_/\_/\_/\_/\_/ – outstanding
\_/\_/\_/\_/ – classy
\_/\_/\_/ – first-rate
\_/\_/ – good stuff
\_/ – spit it!
An added $ or two denotes excellent value for money.