Fantastic fizz that needs no nosh

By the time you read this, trophies will have been presented to the winners of the second annual What Food What Wine (WFWW) competition (www.whatfoodwhatwine.com). The awards were announced in the summer, but there’s a lag before the recipients gather to get their gongs.

WFWW is the newest wine competition in the UK and different from others. The International Wine Challenge, Decanter awards, and International Wine & Spirit Competition judge wines in isolation.

WFWW does something more ambitious, in its way. Wines are submitted for particular dishes, and the judging crew of writers, sommeliers and buyers taste wine and food together. Are they allowed to spit out the fish and chips or chicken tikka masala? Just wondering.

I admire wine writers who apply rigour and intelligence to food and wine matching. And I regard certain matches (mmm, sweet wine and blue cheese) as poss-essing a quasi-mystical per-fection. But al-though I almost always drink wine with food, I find it easier to taste it alone.