Copa Jerez : creativity and excellence at the highest level

For those who are not familiar with Copa Jerez, here is the short story: it is a bi-annual culinary competition inviting top Chef and Sommelier teams from 8 countries to create a three-course meal perfectly paired with Andalucia's vinous treasure: Sherry.

Sommeliers are encouraged to have fun and explore the full palette of Sherries, from Manzanillas and Finos, to Oloroso, Palo Cortado and Pedro Ximenez. Young, aged, crisp, light sweet, opulent and complex - it is all there to experiment with, and to play for! Chefs can get their creative toques on, tasked with incorporating Sherry as one of the ingredients in one of the 3 courses, but otherwise having complete freedom.

The UK is brimming with talent and the 2024 UK finals are now open for entries. The aim is to win the national competition of course, but competitors sights are firmly set on bringing the trophy home at the international finals in 2025!

Over the past two decades, UK finalists have included teams from prestigious restaurants. The previous three editions were no exception, with The River Café (2020), Texture (2018), The Ritz (2016) representing the UK at the international finals in Jerez.

The last, 2022, UK finals were won by Chef Gail Ge’er and Sommelier Jiachen Lu from Dinings Restaurant. They impressed the judges with their Japanese influenced dishes and inventive Sherry pairings. Gail and Jiachen conceded to Denmark at the international finals but won starter pairing of the tournament with a dish of Cured Mackerel, Yuzu Vinaigrette, Olive Salsa and Sisho Mayonnaise served with Tio Pepe Fino en Rama.

Feeling inspired or know someone who will be? Find out more: www.sherry.wine/copa-jerez.

Entries are open until 23 August 2024.

Ronan Sayburn MS Sarah Jane Evans MW Isa Bal MS Roxane Dupuy SANYA ABHAY Nicolas Clerc MS Stefan Neumann MS Miguel Crunia Emma Denney Cecilia Beatriz Bonet Monzon Charles Beaini Elton Muco Leonardo Barlondi Jiachen Lu Emma Jones Andrea Rinaldi Eugenio Egorov Beth Willard Eric Zwiebel MS Merlin Ramos Vincenzo Arnese Giovanni Ferlito MCA Daniel Manetti Daniele Chelo Carlos Pinto Emanuel Pesqueira MIH Sumith A. Glen Montgomery Matilda Tsappis Sylwia Oger Samuel Weatherill Arnaud Dolmazon Giuseppe D'Aniello DipWset Giuseppe Grasso DipWset Matteo Furlan DipWSET Matt Wilkin MS Xavier Rousset Georgios Iordanidis Douglas Blyde Melody Wong Fred BRUGUES Matteo Montone MS Gearoid Devaney Nigel Platts-Martin Matthieu Longuere MS Paul Stibbles Kadek Swijana Beatrice Bessi Agnieszka Swiecka Konstantinos Nestoridis Anastasios Karakasis Diana Rollan Dip WSET Erik Simonics MBA MIH Natasha Senina Federica Zanghirella Federico Moccia Jonathan Kleeman Nikos Emner Gareth Ferreira MS Sonal Clare Nadia Khan Claude Millée Karen Jenkins