The Real Boar Company's wild boar salami with red wine has won this highly coveted Gold Three Star Award from the Great Taste Awards 2008. Simon Gaskell, the boar farmer says "I am absolutely delighted, the boar are the stars and Andrew and Charlie our butchers make a mean salami! It is very exciting to have the product recognised, our range of salamis have been so well received by delis and chefs alike."

Now in its 15th year the Great Taste Awards are the acknowledged benchmark for speciality food and drink. A three-star gold is the highest level of award any producer can aspire to and is recognised as the definitive independent accreditation of quality.

The Great Taste awards judging standards, devised by the Guild of Fine Food, are the most rigorous in the UK. Food producers entered just under 4,800 foods for judging. 72 received the coveted 3 stars. Every entry is blind tasted by teams of experts and by the time it earns gold, it will have been assessed by at least three different teams.

Richard Bertinet clearly agrees with the Great Taste Award Judges. Originally from Brittany in North West France, he trained both in Brittany and at the Grand Moulin de Paris.

His catering background includes stints at the Georges V, Paris and the Chewton Glen Hotel as well as head chef position at the Silver Plough at Pitton in Salisbury where in 1990 he was awarded Egon Ronay, Pub of the Year and American Express Magazine, UK Pub of the Year.

Richard opened The Bertinet Kitchen in 2004, and is an advocate for local, delicious provisions from small producers. When he tried the wild boar and red wine salami, he realised it was something special and created this simple tasty dish which was showcased recently at the Taste Festival in Bath.