In New Zealand’s warmer North Island, there is a growing feeling that the best reds are being made not with Cabernet and Merlot, but Syrah. Rebecca Gibb heads to Hawke’s Bay and discovers a battle between winemaking idealism and hard-nosed pragmatism

Some weird and wonderful blends and, despite the lack of Golds, a generally positive reaction from the tasters

Plenty of medals again for Chile, although the judges were most impressed stylistically with Australia and South Africa

With steady rather than spectacular results in 2011, the New World still seems to be struggling to get its head around this most polarising of aromatic grape varieties

Still no Golds for Viognier, though certainly lighter, fresher, more food-friendly wines than in previous years

Food Match Awards

More ambitious pricing but some decent wines too, with Australia, Argentina and South Africa leading the way

Good wines, good prices and a variety of styles, Syrah was one of the stand-out varieties for the New World

A good selection of medals from across the New World shows this is a category with real strength in depth

There was little to excite the judges in this new category. Here’s hoping for better things from the pair in 2012

The Sommelier Wine Awards doesn’t give out trophies per category because we’re worried that tasters will feel under pressure to dispense extra awards in categories where they may not believe the wines are up to it. Instead, in keeping with the whole ethos of the competition, we leave the judgement up to the sommeliers…

A big improvement on last year’s medal haul, although with nothing under a tenner, it came at a price…

Consistent only in its inconsistency, this year’s Aussie Shiraz category was all about the lower price points

No Golds, but plenty of positive feedback. A good hunting ground for those of you who ‘do’ esoteric on your list

While the kick-out rate was high, the wines left at the end served as a blunt reminder to sub-standard also-rans of just how good the pink stuff can be