Food Match Awards

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

Some great-value wines on the Gold List together with a few top-end ones, too. With more controlled oak use, in future years this is a category that could really fly

Plenty of entries, and plenty of ambition, too, for this hot, new category. Just not quite enough balance in the wines

A frankly disgraceful showing by Italy was largely redeemed by a surprise hit from an unexpected quarter

Somewhat under-powered compared to previous years, our tasters would have liked to see a bit more evidence of this country’s famous quirky individuality

A depressing paucity of white entries, but the best red showing since the birth of the SWAs, with high-quality, individual wines right across the price points

With a general lack of great available vintages to call on, this was a category that polarised the opinions of the tasters

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

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…

Every year for the last three years, our team has taken a look at who’s done what in the competition and made special awards to the submitters.

With the pricier wines often still a little on the austere side, our tasters contented themselves this year with an affordable yet typical example for the Gold List

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

Whether small or large, there’s a place for you in the SWA. Don’t just take our word for it: here’s what a quartet of the UK’s leading suppliers think about the Sommelier Wine Awards

A smorgasbord of styles and an awful lot to get excited about right the way through the medal categories