The wine and food of ely through the seasons was awarded 2nd place in the ‘BEST IN THE WORLD’ competition in the category Best Book on Matching Food and Wine at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards which was held in Paris last night.

The Gourmand Awards Ceremony, a unique melting pot of culinary cultures, is an opportunity to meet influential people in the world of cookbooks and wine books: hundreds of publishers, authors, chefs and journalists take part in this event.

This year there were over 6,000 books representing 136 countries competing in the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, cumulating in the international finals, The Best in the World competition. Winners of this prestigious award since it’s conception in 1995 have included Thomas Keller of the French Laundry, Alain Ducasse, Giorgio Locatelli and Jeffrey Steingarten.

The wine and food of ely through the seasons won the Gourmand Award for Ireland in the two categories, ‘Best Wine Book’ and ‘Best Book on Matching Food & Wine’ which was announced just before Christmas. As a result of these awards it was put forward to represent Ireland in prestigious Best in the World competition.

The winner was ‘Asian Palate’ by author Jeannie Cho Lee, representing Hong Kong.

ABOUT THE BOOK: The wine and food of ely through the seasons offers over 70 delicious recipes, all grouped according to the seasons, with each one matched with two sensational wines, carefully chosen by Erik and Michelle Robson, the proprietors of ely. The book also touches on subjects such as choosing, storing and serving wine, how to know if a wine is corked, advice on the best glassware and a comprehensive reference of grape varieties.

Notes throughout the recipes give handy hints for getting the best out of each one, while illustrated step-by-steps take a closer look at some trickier techniques, such as shucking an oyster, or boning a chicken. There’s also the low-down on creating a cheeseboard, serving great coffee and mixing cocktails.

The book contains over 240 pages and is printed in hard back and full colour. The book was published by ely and printed and bound here in Ireland, from sustainable, well managed forests and is fully FSC compliant.

Glorious colour photographs by Trevor Hart and a foreword by Mary Dowey make this more than a wine reference and great cookbook. You’ll be tempted to bring it out of the kitchen and browse through it, curled up with – yes, a glass of wine - on the sofa.

The book, which retails at €24.95, is available in all three ely venues, online at www.elywinebar.com and in Hughes and Hughes, Hodges Figgis, Waterstones, Easons and Dubray bookshops.