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Wine 4 food

(by peter & susie)

Christmas in July. *shudder*

Christmas in July. *shudder*

It’s not every July day you get to taste 15 different dishes, including Christmas turkey, with wines to match before lunch. Not that you need lunch…

This was What Food, What Wine? The annual food-and-wine matching competition that we have chaired for the past three years saw us working with another elite panel of judges to truffle out the best partners for a range  of classic British dishes, from fish’n’chips to apple pie and custard.

We’ll be releasing the exciting results in a few weeks. Until then, our lips are sealed – but we can reveal that, as ever, there are some surprises as well as classic names, with trophy winners from £3.99 to £38.99 and featuring nine countries, some unexpected.

But that’s the beauty of judging wine with food – the results often are unanticipated, and it’s all the more fun (and worthwhile) for it. Sometimes wines are improved by food so it’s great to give them recognition for that, when in other circumstances they’d just get overlooked.

In the meantime, we’d just like to take this opportunity to thank our brilliant judges (listed below), our fabulous food director Jo Pratt, the kitchen team and staff at Woodland’s Park hotel, where the judging took place, and the IWSC team for all their hard work putting everything together. As it happens, we’ll be stepping down from WFWW before the 2014 edition but we wish the competition very well as it scales ever more delicious heights.

Finally, if you’re feeling peckish (as we most decidedly are not, even a few days after the judging) you can find Jo’s delicious recipes for the dishes below on the website.

Susie, Peter and Jo Pratt

Susie, Peter and Jo Pratt

What Food What Wine 2013 judges (note the female bias…)

  • Peter Richards MW (co-chair)
  • Susie Barrie MW (co-chair)
  • Jo Ahearne MW
  • Susy Atkins
  • Fiona Beckett
  • Sarah-Jane Evans MW
  • Justin Howard-Sneyd MW
  • Anne Jones
  • Ewan Lacey
  • Helen McGinn
  • Angela Mount
  • Rebecca Palmer
  • Jane Parkinson
  • Pierpaolo Petrassi MW

What Food What Wine 2013 dishes

Classic

  • Fish and chips
  • Mushroom risotto
  • Bangers and mash
  • Shepherd’s pie
  • Roast beef
  • Apple pie and custard
  • Mature cheddar

What Food What Wine 2013Christmas

  • Smoked salmon
  • Roast turkey with stuffing
  • Stilton
  • Chocolate roulade

India

  • Chicken korma
  • Chicken tikka massala
  • Lamb rogan josh
  • Stir-fry kind prawns (Cinnamon Kitchen speciality)