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 poorly performing category in previous SWAs, this year sparkling rosé managed to provide a string of good examples across all the price points

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

Yes, it’s chic. And yes, it’s elegant. But its higher price means that if you want to sell rosé champagne during an economic downturn, you’re going to have to work harder than ever. Natasha Hughes reports

With wines from France, Luxembourg, Italy and England, as well as the New World, there was a wider variety to choose from here than in the past