AUSTRALIAN wines emerged with the most number of gold awards at last week's Wine&SpiritsAsia Challenge (if you're wondering why the words are so close to each other, it could be because the logo designer was doing some wine-tasting on his own!) at the Singapore Expo.

What happens at a Wine Challenge? "A Vineyard Story" tells us: "Wines in such competitions are always tasted blind and in a controlled environment: temperature of wines, aroma-free tasting glasses, good lighting, and of course, good servers. All wines will be tasted in flights (batches), to be completed in a given time frame. And NO, you are not allowed in such a 'tensed' environment of tasting, no visitors allowed! Authorised personnel only! And I'm sorry if your Gold Medal Wine from somewhere only gets a Bronze Medal here, no appeals will be entertained."

According to the organisers, winning an award at The Challenge heightens a wine's international recognition and marketing exposure. Winners are also presented with awards, certificates and medal stickers for future promotional activities. The competition is organised according to 10 categories, such as still wines from various countries, old world wines, new world varietals and blends and fortified wines.

The Wine Challenge received a total of 600 wine entries, of which 423 won awards. Seven entries won gold, 38 were awarded silver, 206 received bronze, and 172 obtained Merit.

Below are results of gold winners by country:

AUSTRALIA
2001 Jacob's Creek Johann Shiraz Cabernet (Best Blended Wine)
2006 Krondorf Show Reserve Barossa Valley Shiraz
2006 Difabio Bosh Vine McLaren Vale Shiraz 2005 Patricia Shiraz (Best Shiraz)

AUSTRIA
2002 Welsch Riesling-Chardonnay (Best Sweet Wine)

ITALY
2006 Valdobbiadene Prosecco Doc Crede Brut (Best Italian Wine)

GERMANY
2006 Iphoefer Kalb Gewuerztraminer