The world of elite sommeliers demands unparalleled precision, a skill exemplified by the notoriously difficult ‘Champagne Pour’ challenge.
Emma Denney, director of wine at Claridge’s London, understands the exacting standards of sommelier-specific wine competitions, which feature rigorous technical tests and blind tastings.
For the UK Sommelier of the Year 2026, candidates must pour 23 perfectly equal servings from a jeroboam of champagne – a four-standard-bottle equivalent – within a strict eight-minute window. Crucially, once a pour begins, contestants cannot return to a previously filled glass, demanding flawless execution.
And on completion, there should be sufficient wine remaining in the bottle for one additional serving…
But the winner – Emma Denney, who beat 46 other top sommeliers to take the title – says she found the written theory paper far more testing.
“The champagne pour was the least of my worries… to be honest, my biggest issue was the theory.
“With this, it’s about how much do you know about wine culture; how much do you know about the people who work in wine; and it’s about wine trends, celebrity wines, it’s everything.
“So you really have to be ready for questions coming at you from left, right, centre, up, down. You don’t know what you’re going to get, so that for me is actually the hardest part to prepare.”
She continues: “The rest is very much what I do on a day-to-day basis but on a different scale – it’s similar to what I love to do, in the art that I try to work on every day.”
Director of wine at Claridge’s, London, the 33-year-old curates a wine list of approx 1,700 bins, and the Advanced Sommelier (CMS) says the new flagship restaurant, New York icon Dante – an outreach from one of Manhattan’s legendary neighbourhood restaurants and bars – “brings a breath of fresh air”.
Following a successful residency at the five-star Art Deco hotel last summer, Dante officially opened its doors last month. “I love Claridge’s so much, but this is like a pop of excitement, and I don’t think the bubble is going to burst for Dante,” enthuses Denney.
“It’s a fantastic place to be. Amazing cocktails. We’ve got a very cool wine programme. We have the same wine list across the whole hotel, but separate ‘by the glass’.
“So we’re able to have a lot of fun with the ‘by the glass’ section,” she explains.
Here’s what’s trending with Claridge’s guests right now, according to Denney.
1. Chilled, lighter bodied reds
“First of all, chilled and lighter bodied reds, and this is something that works fantastically in Dante,” she notes.
Recommending Italian Bardolino reds from the Veneto region in northern Italy, which she describes as a “really beautiful, light, fresh, fragrant style of red wine, where the tannins aren’t too grippy; and when you chill it down, it just refreshes you so much”.
“Especially in the summertime, and because it’s lighter, it can deal with a bit more cold. Sometimes with a red wine, when you have a lot of savoury aromas, and you chill it, it just tends to turn out a bit bitter.
“But when you have a wine like a Bardolino, it’s really bright and fragrant with super lush red fruits, and this is one of my personal favourites that I’m drinking.”
2. English sparkling wine
Trophy winners on the world stage, and with England recording the highest Gold success rate among major producers at the International Wine Challenge 2026 (the Oscars of the wine industry) it’s not surprising Denney says: “I am a big fan of English sparkling.
“And working at a very historic, iconic British hotel, this is something I love to promote – and I think England is producing a lot of fantastic wines.
“Some of my favourites at the moment are Domaine Evremond Classic Cuvée; and there’s another one, The Weyborne Estate, which is much less well known being smaller in size, but it’s outstanding.”
She continues. “It has [Weyborne] beautiful complexity, depth, and just provides a really nice alternative to champagne. Don’t get me wrong, I love champagne, and I drink a lot of champagne myself, but I also drink a lot of English sparkling.”
Moreover, Denney says guests are enjoying English fizz as an aperitif, a celebratory drink, as well as at private functions and dining room bookings.
“Where people would normally have champagne to start – our house champagne is Billecart-Salmon which I adore – it’s been amazing to see more and more bookings starting to select English sparkling as their aperitif to have with canapés.
“And because England has, no matter where you are, this racy, bright acidity, I think it pairs beautifully for the start of a meal.”
3. White Burgundy
“To be honest, this might be a bit boring, but people are also drinking very classically. And I feel, with the cost-of-living crisis, a lot of consumers may be taking a little bit less risk,” Denney says.
“And going back to the wines you might consider boring, but they’re comfortable, and they’re homely, and they are classics for a reason.
“Things like Chablis. We sell so much Chablis. I love to drink Chablis… if I’m drinking Burgundy, I’m usually drinking Chablis.”
Denney continues: “Whether you’re drinking a Village, or you’re going to a Premier Cru; or occasionally a Grand Cru, if you want something fuller with more body and texture.
“But yeah, just sticking with the classics, and for me that’s Chablis at Claridges.”
Indeed, she says she’s noticed a massive trend, adding: “I would definitely say in the last eight months, consumers and guests are being less adventurous.
“If guests are spending anywhere near £100 or more on a bottle of wine, they want to know that they’re going to enjoy it.
“They don’t want to be taking a risk anymore. People are drinking less, they’re spending a little bit less on wine sometimes, and so you want to know you’re getting bang for your buck.
“You want to know that you trust the wine, and you’re going to understand the wine, which I actually don’t mind. These wines are classics for a reason, because they’re soli, they’re great, and they work.”
UK Sommelier of the Year is the UK’s highest professional benchmark for sommeliers. Associated with ASI, it represents the pinnacle of professional recognition for sommeliers in the UK.
