The Cono Sur Blogger Competition: We're Involved!

For all our efforts to continually bring you new and exciting parcels of wine, we still - just like you - have our favourites.

Since we began the Vinspire journey we've been enjoying the fruits of Aldofo Hurtado's labour under the label with a vision to convey the spirit of the New World - Cono Sur.

So we're excited to share with you our involvement in the Cono Sur Blogger Competition - a search for a savoury new main dish to pair with one of their wines.

Looking back on Vinspire's (short but fruitful) history, we've encountered many of the wines from Cono Sur along the way, and to date, haven't had a bad word to say about them!

Back in April this year for Earth Day, Kate touched on the quality of the growing conditions and Adolfo's desire for organic grapes, in June I wrote about the different tiers of the Cono Sur range after the London Wine Fair, before Freddie introduced us to the sub-£6 Cono Sur Carmenere later in the month.

Even in 2013 Matt found the Cono Sur Bicicleta Pinot Noir for £5, plus we've featured various varietals in food and wine matching posts - Wines for When Things Spice Up, Wine And Curry - and Cono Sur even made it into our Festival Drinking Essentials list!

If there's one thing that we all agree on, it's Cono Sur's consistency and desire to deliver an exceptional product, at an affordable price (probably the reason we buy so much!).

So it's for all of the above reasons that I'm excited to have been asked to help judge the final of their Blogger Competition...in Paris!

Open to bloggers from Ireland, Sweden and Finland, the Blogger Competition is a search for the ultimate main course dish to pair perfectly with a wine from the Cono Sur portfolio. All the entries submitted in August were posted on the Blogger Competition site, and consumers were able to vote for their favourite dish from each country - bearing in mind the wine which has been chosen to pair with the dish.

In September, the top three dishes from each country were selected, and these semi-finalist dishes were then prepared by renowned chef Christopher Carpentier, who selected the top dish from each country. It is these three finalists who I'll be meeting in Paris and who'll prepare and present their dishes for us to taste. Curious to know what I'll be tasting?

You can check out the full recipes for the finalists dishes on the Competition site....though I am yet to correctly translate two out of three so I maybe in for a surprise! They look pretty good though...what do you think?

From Ireland:
'Scallops and Bacon'
To pair with Cono Sur's Single Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc

From Sweden:
'Helgrillad röding toppad med aprikossmör på krispig grönsakssallad'
To pair with Cono Sur's Bicicleta Gewurztraminer

From Finland:
'Tuliset lohitacot'
To pair with Cono Sur's Biciclecta Riesling

Alongside Cono Sur's General Manager and Chief Winemaker, Adolfo Hurtado and Chilean chef Christopher Carpentier (repsonsible for several successful restaurants in Santiago), I'll be helping choose the winner, who will go on to enjoy a trip for two to Chile, and of course the Cono Sur vineyards and winery.

The judging will take place on 15th November, so keep your eyes posted for the follow-up post and the announcement of the winning dish...and of course its perfect Cono Sur wine match!

Images taken from www.conosur.com and http://bloggercompetition.conosur.com where the finalists dishes are referenced to respective owners' blogs. Thank you to Cono Sur for the opportunity to be involved in this exciting competition.