A vast array of whisky and wine this week

Fog, rolling in from the Pacific, tempers the relentless sunshine of California and Chile and allows them to make elegant white wines. Clinton Cawood joins a bunch of sommeliers as they get to grips with some misty Chardonnays

Second International Grenache Day to be held on 23 September

A small category, and not exactly a must-stock, but the Zins showed good typicity and matching potential for gutsy food

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

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

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

A successful haul for this must-list variety, with Chile achieving a bit of a David versus Goliath giant-slaying

Astonishing value for money from the Chileans, as you’d expect, but not enough wines with the wow factor

After a shocking first year in the SWAs, Carmenère found its feet with some style this year, delivering some great wines

Australia’s key white and red varietals have come a long way over the past 10 years, with some very definite differences from one region to the next. Chris Losh sits in and watches as a team of sommeliers learn to tell their Margaret River from their Adelaide Hills

Solid, rather than great wines, and a return to dominance for South Africa

Plenty of decent bottles and very few dogs meant that our tasters were positive about New World Chardonnay, though genuine excitement was in short supply

One of the stars of this year’s competition, the New World Malbec category offered value for money, consistency and a customer-friendly style of wine that should suit every kind of establishment from gastropub to white tablecloth