UK finalist: Celeste restaurant at The Lanesborough

To start the have matched Roasted langoustine and Shitake mushroom with the Bodegas Hidalgo-La Gitana, Napoleon, Amontillado. They describe this dish as a happy wedding between earth and sea, an unctuous and creamy Langoustine will meet the earthiness of the cauliflower. The unctuosity of the Langoustine will give texture to the plate and temper the freshness of this Amontillado. The earthiness of the sherry will be just fine with the herbaceous character of the cauliflower, but what is amazing, the sherry reveals the curry dressing of the cauliflower,

The main course is a Roasted sweetbread, Sherry red onion purée, baked celeriac, liquorice and coffee beans matched with Valdespino, Solera 1842, Oloroso VOS. Pierre Marie describes this dish as the texture of the sweetbread is really unctuous, the acidity of the sherry will cut through, the aromas of the crispy glucose tuile will match with the tertiary profile of the wine. The coffee sauce is the bridge between every element of the plate and the wine itself. To finish, the celeriac is bringing the earthiness to the match, something almost sandy in the mouth working really well with a touch of sweetness and freshness.

For dessert they have chosen the González Byass Matusalem VOS Cream Sherry with  Bark chocolate, Tonka emulsion, caramelised cashew nuts. What the chef:sommelier team are trying to do here is match the sweetness of the dish together with the sherry together. The caramelised cashews nut and the Guanaja bark, the caramel and praliné, need a sherry with a tertiary aromas profiles,which is why they chose a VORS wine from a solera that is more than 30 years old.

To read the other seven menus chosen for the 2016 UK final of Copa Jerez click here.