Wine: nature or nurture?

What makes a great drink? Obviously it’s down to flavour and taste, but what are the key factors? Is it the ingredients – the fruit, the hops or the barley? Or the weather or the site? Or perhaps the thinking, be it traditionally-inspired or forward-looking? Or is it down to the people or the community from where the product hails?

With UK drinks producers getting their own category in the BBC’s highly respected Food & Farming Awards, a panel of judges led by leading chef Angela Hartnett will be examining just these questions later this year.

Beer: the heritage of hops

The growing number and quality of entries from drinks producers in recent years had made it clear that “it really does need its own category”, Food Programme producer Dan Saladino told DrinkBritain.com.

Last year for example, the pioneering Julian Temperley, of the Somerset Cider Brandy Company struck such a chord that, although he didn’t win the Food Producer award, he received a Special Judges Award for “the years of dedication and hard work that went into producing a ‘fantastic’ product”.

The birth of a new category is relatively rare, with the new arrival taking the number to ten. Before this year the last to be created was for Best Food Market in 2007.

Hartnett welcomed the news. “The new category is a great way of celebrating the work of a much neglected group of producers,” she said. “Not only are drinks a crucial part of any memorable meal, they can also be the result of someone who’s determined to keep a tradition alive, or working hard to guarantee the future of an orchard. That’s what these Awards offer, a chance to celebrate something delicious that’s also part of our social fabric.”

Entries are invited across the full range of drinks, Saladino says. So, if you know an “inspirational” brewer, wine maker, distiller or cider producer or juice-maker, nominate them or suggest they put themselves forward.

Nominations should be made online by 15 August. As well as covering the products and what makes them special, entrants are asked to describe the drink, the business, including its links with the community.

Competition is tough, with some categories receiving up to 4-500 entries.

Hartnett will chair the 12-strong judging panel, to be announced in the coming weeks. The panel whittles down entries to three for each award. Those shortlisted are visited by a pair of judges who report back to the full panel, who decide on the final winners, to be announced on November 12.

So, if you know anyone who should be considered, make sure they put the August deadline in their diaries.

Good luck!