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Gosset Matchmakers champions announced
Champagne Gosset has announced the winning chef and sommelier duo from the 2024 edition of its Matchmakers competition, held in London last week.
The contest at Le Cordon Bleu London’s Cord Restaurant on Fleet Street, pitted pairs from some of the UK’s top restaurants against one another to develop a perfect pairing for Gosset Grand Blanc de Blancs using a box of mystery ingredients, including, centrally, smoked eel.
The finalists from this ninth edition of the challenge were:
- Chef Oliver Grieve and sommelier Camilla Bonnannini from Albatross Death Cult, Birmingham
- Chef Steven Howell and sommelier Jordan Ingram from Frog by Adam Handling Restaurant, London
- Chef Joseph Hendry-Burgess and sommelier Erin Donnelly from Heron in Edinburgh
- Chef Anurag Singh and sommelier Henna Zinzuwadia from Pahli Hill in London
- Chef Robert Veitch and sommelier Davide Santeramo from The Ritz London
Ultimately, the judging panel, chaired by Matthieu Longuère MS, wine director at Le Cordon Bleu London, decided that Grieve and Bonnannini from Albatross Death Cult deserved the win for their dish of smoked eel caramelised in butter, with a Gosset Grand Blanc de Blancs beurre blanc, kohlrabi pickled in elderflower vinegar, Gosset-marinated apple and kohlrabi Parisienne cooked in a dashi butter.
“The level of the finalists were really impressive overall. In a closely matched contest, it came down to the level of cooperation and collaboration between the winning team,” said Longuère.
Grieve and Bonnannini’s prize is a magnum of Gosset each, and a three-day trip to Epernay to visit the Champagne house’s headquarters.
Previous winners of the competition, which was first held in 2016, include sommelier Joshua Castle and chef Myles Donaldson for Noble Rot in 2020 and, in 2022, sommelier Sotir Semini and chef Julien Deschamps, representing Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester.
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