Pour a glass of wine, swill it and take a sip. Though we're sure many of us could identify the dry, citrusy notes of a sauvignon blanc or the dark berry richness of a Rioja, picking out the particular vintage or specific vineyard might be more of a challenge, not to mention reeling off its pairing potential and the glassware that will make it sing. Wine sommeliers are rightly revered for their unrivalled ability to detect the nuanced flavours and subtlest of notes in wines from around the world and curate masterfully paired menus. That meticulousness reaches far beyond wine, though, with sommeliers now guiding us through everything from beer and whisky to honey, olive oil and even water.

After all, everything we eat and drink has its roots, somewhere along the way, in terroir, and there are countless factors which can change a product's final scent, taste and appearance, from the plants which provide bees nectar for honey to the endless spices and flowers we can infuse in tea. We're in an era of provenance and quality, reflected by the growing number of artisanal products on our shelves. Take coffee – twenty years ago our choices were limited, but today there is an endless range of blends spanning everything from fruity and caramel to spiced, smoky and nutty. The same can be said of everything from gin to mustard; in the US, there are even a growing number of hot sauce sommeliers exploring the vast world of all things spicy.

In this feature, we've got to know just a handful of UK sommeliers and connoisseurs. Some advise top restaurants and bars on tasting menus, while others put their expertise to good to use in their own businesses. Ultimately, all have developed a fascination with their speciality and are on a crusade to open our eyes to its potential.

An upbringing in France's Alsace certainly helped Vanessa Majella Stolz discover a love for wine, but it was a seasonal job in Sancerre that sparked a desire to learn all that she could. Having moved to the UK to become a professional sommelier, she has since worked in some of the UK's best restaurants. Today, Vanessa is head sommelier at Michelin-starred Pine in Northumberland, and earlier this year began her journey to joining the highly-regarded ranks of the Court of Master Sommeliers. 'The most exciting part for me is when the wine is such a great match to the food, you want to savour it and let it linger as much as you can,' she says. 'Once finished, you want it over and over again. If wines are well paired, they can provide a completely different experience of how you perceive food on your palate.'

Vanessa's top tip: Food and wines from the same region or country are a great match, because they have been produced together. Check where the recipe you are cooking originates from and if wine is produced there, you can’t go wrong. Also, don't overcomplicate things; think rich food and rich wines, or fresh, crunchy food and crisp, sharp wines. Spiced food (whether aromatic or hot) is typically paired with off-dry wines – instead, next time try a full-bodied white wine instead.

Matilda Tsappis is determined to prove how varied Japanese rice wine sake can be. Having lived in Tokyo for almost seven years and being half-Japanese, sake was high on her priority list when she and husband Tom Tsappis opened Scotland's Killiecrankie House. As co-owner and sommelier, Matilda curates its pairing menus, encouraging diners to have an open mind. It's not uncommon for UK diners' experiences of sake to be limited – often drunk late at night at a karaoke bar, she laughs. 'I don’t think many people outside Japan realise how diverse sake can be; there's a huge variety of flavours – from umami-rich, mushroom-y styles to bright, fruity styles,' she explains. 'Then there are cloudy nigori sakes, sweet amazake, funky aged sake, and the more recent introduction of sparkling styles. This variety means it's a great match for many different types of food. Not to mention that it is delicious.' 

Matilda's top tip: If you’re not that familiar with sake, I would start by seeking out a junmai daiginjo style. This category of sake denotes wines that have a high level of rice grain polishing, which leads to a fruitier, floral style which most people find are an easier introduction to sake compared to more earthy, mushroom flavoured (low polishing) styles. If you can find a Nama sake, this means it is unpasteurised, so you get more flavour concentration on the nose and palate, which I rather like.

When Sarah Wyndham Lewis' husband became a beekeeper, first as a hobbyist and later professionally, she knew her allergy to bee stings meant she'd be of limited help. Instead, she put her farming background to good use, getting to grips with the intricacies of honey and how terroir influences its final flavour. Rather than seeing it simply as sweet, she encourages people to appreciate its nuances, from bitter and tart to savoury (notes which are shaped partly by the blend of plants from which bees gather their nectar). Sarah completed a Honey Sensory Education course in Bologna eight years ago and has since worked as a honey sommelier at her business Bermondsey Street Bees, leading tastings and advising top restaurants and hotels, including the likes of The Connaught, home to Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, Jonny Lake's Trivet, Wild Honey and The Langham.

Sarah's top tip: Heather honey, with deep floral aromas, is a great glaze for ham and pork and pairs well with a strong cheddar, while buckwheat honey, which is bold, dark and malty, is excellent with a creamy blue like Gorgonzola. Darker honeys with a umami hit are beautiful with walnut oil and Asian flavours including soy and fish sauce. Generally, look for single-source, local honey producers (rather than blended options).

Twenty years ago, far less thought would have been given to pairing beer and food, but the craft beer revolution has introduced us to bold new flavours and styles, as well as a desire to elevate them. James Ratcliffe is co-owner and head sommelier at The Black Bull in Cumbria's Sedbergh, and first began seriously exploring beer while cooking at pop-up brew taps in Manchester alongside new wave brewers. 'It was natural, then, to think about food going with beer,' he says. 'The evolution of beer in the last couple of decades has been so immense, the possibilities have just become even more amazing. When you get that pairing right, what you drink with the dish lifts all the flavours above what that dish is alone.' 

James' top tip: For some, gose (German salty, sour beer) can be a bit challenging. However, the food pairings are immense – it can be a palette cleanser or served as aperitif. It goes well with just about anything, including spicy, grilled or rich meats (why not try it with our barbecued piri-piri chicken). Not only that, it works as a float with a scoop of ice cream added. We also have several beers infused with wine from Savoie in France, using both red and white varieties. They have a great range and depth of flavour which are very easily paired with food.

Though Mazen Assaf knows he has always been fascinated with olive oil, he's not quite sure why. Growing up in Lebanon certainly played a part, but it was a childhood trip to Portgual as a child that ignited his interest. 'I tasted something completely different to what I was used to and that's when my awakening happened,' he laughs. Today, as a qualified olive oil sommelier, he works with farms across the Mediterranean as the Olive Oil Guy, curating a selection of craft olive oils. He, like his fellow sommeliers, only tastes extra virgin olive oil, with flavour profiles generally falling into fruity, pungent and bitter categories, influenced by factors like its harvest time, olive type and how it's pressed. With 1,600 varieties of olives across the world, Mazen says we are at the beginning of what he calls 'the olive oil renaissance'.

Mazen's top tip: A good rule of thumb is milder olive oils go better with milder foods. Oven-roasted wild sea bass, for example, pairs well with a milder, complex, fruity Greek, Koroneiki oil, while pan con tomate would sing with a fruity, aromatic Spanish Picual one. Parmesan, meanwhile, can stand up to a more pungent, bitter flavour. A drizzle of olive oil over vanilla ice cream also makes it deliciously fruity and smooth, while frothing your milk for coffee with olive oil creates a beautifully creamy taste.

When Doran Binder bought a pub in the hills above Macclesfield in 2016, he didn't know much about water quality. But when a water assessor told him the pub had the purest water he'd tested in his career, that soon changed. Today, Doran bottles his Crag Spring Water, designs restaurant water menus and runs a dedicated water bar in The Crag Inn, as well as tasting sessions which attract tourists from around the world. Doran – known as the Bearded Water Sommelier – is on a mission to not only highlight the enormous variety in water flavours, but also encourage people to drink better quality options. Waters at his bar range from a 14 TDS glacial type (TDS, put simply, measures the total mineral elements in water – sea water, for reference, hovers around 35,000 TDS) right up to a 15,000 TDS which has to be served in a shot glass. 

Doran's top tip: Try Vichy Catalan water with Spanish cheese – it's a game changer. It's so high in minerality (around 3,000 TDS) that it gives food you wouldn't usually season a completely different taste profile. Also, don't refrigerate water. Taste it at room temperature – the fridge's temperature is 5°C and our mouth's is 37°C, meaning there's a 32C° degree shock difference and any subtle taste is lost. 

In 2012, Ajit Madan left a career in banking to found Camellia's Tea House with his sister in London, having spotted a gap in the market for bespoke tea for luxury hotels. He embarked on a global tour of tea gardens, completed a course in types, origins and processing and developed a particular knowledge of Chinese tea ceremonies and traditional English afternoon tea. Much like wine, teas produced by different estates have specific vintages and quality, depending on which leaves are harvested. Camellia's has since created teas using gold and salt, brightly-coloured blends and infusions to pair with cocktails.

Ajit's top tip: Japanese Sencha green tea pairs very nicely with salmon dishes, while Chinese green tea pairs very well with pears and apples. Assam black tea works well with high quality milk chocolate and cream, scones and jam, while matcha green tea with milk chocolate, vanilla or coconut-based desserts is delicious.

Though she admits she was a whisky novice when she joined Edinburgh's The Scotch Whisky Experience twenty-seven years ago, Julie Trevisan-Hunter is very much an expert today. As well as leading tastings at the attraction, where she is marketing director, she has earned the prestigious title of Master of the Quaich, joining an exclusive group of people who have made an outstanding achievement to Scotch whisky. 'Very quickly that passion for whisky imbues in you,' she says. 'I think from a personal point of view that's because we don't work with just one brand, so it's a never-ending story.' Julie has seen whisky's reputation evolve, moving away from the stereotype of a masculine drink, and had an insight into how it's viewed around the world (in South America, it's often used in cocktails in nightclubs). Comparing whiskies at a tasting means you can appreciate their more subtle differences, Julie says, which are influenced by everything from the barrel or cask type to bottling strength.

Julie's top tip: Whisky pairs well with everything from smoked salmon and venison salami to cheese. I like a sherry cask whisky, which is more rich and spiced, with 60% to 70% chocolate and, as an extension of that, chocolate puddings. An Islay single malt whisky, which is smokier, also goes really well with blue cheese – Blue Murder cheese in particular.

Californian-born Shaun Hurrell's interest in mezcal and tequila was inspired by a wider love of Mexican food and culture. As chef patron at Durham taqueria Barrio Comida, he has immersed himself in regional agave spirits, training with importers to sharpen up his knowledge. Mezcal can be made from up to fifty kinds of agave from around Mexico, and Shaun's menu aims to give a pretty good reflection of that variety; it's packed with thirty choices encompassing different regions, traditions and flavours, as well as tequila, raicilla, corn whisky and sotol. 'The food is only a part of the equation of an amazing restaurant and what makes a night truly memorable,' Shaun says, 'and having the right drinks and beverage programme alongside the food is paramount and can make a dish that may seem simple really sing.'

Shaun's top tip: A fresh and vibrant Blanco tequila such as Casa Dragones or Fortaleza is delicious served chilled over ice with fresh seafood and ceviches. For mezcals, each has its own unique qualities, however as a general rule they pair fantastically with grilled foods that enhance their naturally smoky aroma (have a look through our barbecue recipes for inspiration – we love these barbecued Mexican chicken wings). Generally, be on the look-out for specifically artisanal and ancestral mezcals and stay away from anything with a worm in the bottle.