Gosset Matchmakers finalists announced

By Oliver Catchpole

Published: 04 September, 2025

Champagne Gosset, which is available in the UK through Hallgarten Wines, has announced the five finalist teams for their 10th anniversary edition of the Gosset Matchmakers competition.

The annual contest puts together up-and-coming chefs and sommeliers, with the task of creating a dish that pairs with a chosen wine.

This year the wine to pair is Gosset Grande Réserve Champagne.

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The teams will compete in a live cook-off on 29 September, in the kitchen of CORD by Le Cordon Bleu Restaurant, in London. Their dish will be judged by a panel of industry experts, who will declare a winner on the day.

The finalist pairs are:

• Apricity Restaurant: Anna Taylor-Hunt (sommelier) and Millie Charrington (chef),

• The Lecture Room and Library/ Ekstedt at the Yard: Luca Bocca (assistant head sommelier) and Ruhk Gupta (junior sous chef),

• Moor Hall Restaurant and Rooms: Giuseppe Di Marino (sommelier) and Nathan Jones (chef de partie),

• Muse by Tom Aikens: Chanel Sim Yah Xuan (junior sommelier) and Michael Da Rocha (demi chef de partie)

• The Dysart Petersham: Ché Dyson-Holland (junior sommelier) and Darryl Shotlander (senior chef de partie).

Each pair has created a unique dish, which are respectively:

• Rabbit with fennel, smoked marrow fat pea, blackberry ketchup and Grande Réserve sauce,

• Roasted lobster tail, curry beurre blanc, lobster reduction, quenelle of lobster claw, apple, fennel and potato dressed with brown butter, apple vinegar and pink peppercorn,

• Langoustine cigar, tempura tail & crustacean hollandaise,

• Sliced raw scallops, seasoned with dried scallop roe salt and topped with caramelised white chocolate, and

• Steamed monkfish rolled in Celtic mustard and nori, served with kaffir lime & ginger champagne dressing, spice oil, black mooli, and buckwheat & almond tuile.

Philippe Antony, director of exports at Champagne Gosset, commented: “Over the past decade, the Gosset Matchmakers competition has celebrated the unique collaboration between chefs and sommeliers. This year’s finalists embody creativity, technical excellence, and the spirit of pairing gastronomy with Champagne.”

The prize this year is an exclusive private visit to Maison Gosset, where the winners will have a guided tour and a tasting with chef de cave Odilon de Varine.

Picture: Judges at the Gosset Matchmakers 2024 competition

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