Some good-value wines but the relatively low ratio of entries to medals suggests a lot of bandwagon-jumping, too

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

Food Match Awards

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

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

No Golds but an encouraging performance from a grape that is still largely finding its feet in the on-trade

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

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

In the past, a By The Glass award has gone to wines that match specific dishes – the theory being that they could be served by the glass as ready matches with a meal.

The New World’s emerging white wine categories have been patchy in previous SWAs. But this year, there were some genuinely impressive – and cheap – wines

A smallish but dynamic section, our sommeliers found some really good, food-friendly wines here at prices that make them all well worth a look

Lots of wine, plenty of freshness, but not, for the most part, enough ambition. New World Sauvignon Blanc is a category that is rather treading water at the moment

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

There’s more to dining out in Argentina than rare steak and big reds. Our sommeliers pick out some of the food and wine matches that caught the imagination on their recent trip