Winners of Gosset Matchmakers 2022

We are delighted to share the news that a chef and sommelier team from Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, London have been crowned the winners of Gosset Matchmakers 2022.

Julien Deschamps and Sotir Semini competed for the top spot with a final at CORD by Le Cordon Bleu restaurant in Fleet Street, alongside finalists from Chewton Glen, Hampshire and Spry, Edinburgh. Their outstanding dish of Langoustine and champagne emulsion with a marmalade of peach and pink peppercorn, carefully designed to pair beautifully with Gosset Grande Reserve, won the judges over.

Chair of the panel, Melody Wong said, “It was a fierce competition this year, with all the finalists delivering on quality cooking, service skills, creativity and above all outstanding teamwork. It was hard to choose a winner.”

Judge Laetizia Keating,  then challenged the teams to create a dish from a box of mystery ingredients, which included pork loin, to match with the new Gosset Celebris Blanc de Blancs 2012.

Melody was pleased to see their creativity. She said, ‘Pork is a humble yet challenging ingredient with many ways to handle and cook it and the teams did not have much time to plan or create a dish to pair with the newly released Celebris Blanc de Blanc. The winners are very talented, they are the rising stars to look out for.”

Chef de Cave, Odilon de Varine, added, “Gosset champagne are fine wines enhanced with bubbles, which lend themselves well to be served with food. All the teams showed a good understanding of this, but the winning team, really showed thought and creativity in both their dishes in producing something that elevated but the champagne and the dishes they served.”

Now in its 7th year, Gosset Matchmakers focuses on interaction of fine wine and cuisine, the teamwork between chef and sommelier. Competitors must show thought and understanding of the Gosset style, in order to produce dishes which elevates both the dish and the wine to a higher plane.

The judging panel were sommeliers Melody Wong and James Shaw, head chef Laetizia Keating from The Pem, Gosset’s Chef de Caves Odilon de Varine and Guy Nightingale from Louis Latour Agencies, Gosset’s UK distributor.

The winners join a growing list of Matchmakers alumni, hold the ‘Matchmakers’ title for the next year, along with receiving a magnum each of Gosset champagne. They also win a two night VIP trip to visit Gosset’s headquarters in Epernay.