Hotel Terravina team wins 2010 Gastronomy Team of the Year title

Sommelier Laurent Richet and chef de partie Neil Cooper from Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire have won the Academy of Food & Wine's 2010 Gastronomy Team of the Year title after a 'cook & serve' final held at London's Westminster Kingsway College yesterday.

Assistant sommelier Clement Robert and executive chef Steven Titman from Summer Lodge, Dorset, were runners-up in the competition, held in association with Discover the Origin, with sommelier Aklasul Momin and executive chef Sudha Shankar Saha of Saffron in Birmingham taking third place.

The five finalists were asked to cook and serve a two-course meal with wines for a panel of expert judges. Dishes had to include Discover the Origin PDO ingredients parma ham and parmigiano-reggiano cheese and be accompanied by a Burgundy, Port or wine from the Douro Valley, also part of the Discover the Origin campaign.

Academy of Food & Wine deputy chairman Paul Breach said: "This year the finalists were all of an extremely high standard which gave the judges a tough time deciding on an eventual winner. The Gastronomy Team of the Year competition is going from strength to strength and demonstrates that good teamwork between front-of-house and back-of-house can result in really creative cooking and wine and food pairings."

Judge Rob Kirby, chef director of Lexington Catering, added: "The team from Hotel TerraVina demonstrated a thorough understanding of food and wine matching – they understood what worked and showed true cooking skills matched with wines that complemented rather than dominated the food. These were well thought out, well executed dishes."

Richet and Cooper's winning two-course meal included a starter of hand-dived scallops, cauliflower, quail eggs, parmesan, parma ham and white chocolate, accompanied by a Niepoort, Redoma Branco, Douro Portugal 2007.

The team's main course was pig trotter spring roll, confit belly and poached loin of pork, smoked potato, parmesan, parma ham and chorizo foam and celeriac fondant served with Nuits Saint-Georges, Michel Gros Burgundy, France 2004.

Hotel TerraVina receives an Academy training bursary, along with the team's personal prize of a 10-day trip to France, Portugal and Italy. Summer Lodge receives an Academy training bursary.

The winners of the Academy's student competition, Future Stars of Gastronomy, were also announced yesterday as student sommelier James O'keeffe and student chef Jack Hone from Westminster Kingsway College, London.

Words: Maria Bracken

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