Not a vast amount in the way of bargains, but there were some decent, unusual wines here, proving that the New World still knows how to innovate

Aussie Shiraz is rarely cheap now, but a growing elegance saw a big rise in medals this year – and a lot of happy tasters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Over 1,500 wines can be boiled down to this: the hallowed Sommelier Wine Awards Gold List for 2011...

Entries of this much-favoured grape may well have been more or less evenly split between Australia and New Zealand, but this year the latter definitely came out on top

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…

With screwcaps to the fore, the quality of the whites (particularly) and the reds here was amazing for the price. Rosé was another matter entirely

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