Hotel TerraVina duo win Gastronomy Team of the Year

Published: 20 July, 2010

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.

The 'cook & serve' final was held at London's Westminster Kingsway College on July 19.

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

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."

Held in association with Discover the Origin, 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.

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