If you have a great wine idea and need a few thousand to realise it, the Geoffrey Roberts Award may be your answer.
Applications are being taken for this annual prize, given each year to someone, of any age, who convinces the judges they will spend the bursary of £3,000 (€4,900) furthering the cause of wine, food or hospitality.
Previous winners include Decanter writer Jane Adams, who did much to promote farmers’ markets in her native Australia, South African Kate Thal who is researching organic wine production while running the wine division of a major London restaurant group, and Dru Reschke, 26, whose family have farmed in Coonawarra, South Australia for several generations and now make their own wine. He wants to develop a scheme for processing toxic winery effluent.
The Geoffrey Roberts Trust is a UK-registered charity established in memory of a pioneer importer of fine New World wines.
The deadline for applications for the 2002 Award is 29 March 2002. Committee members include Sally Clarke of Clarke’s restaurant in West London, Willie Lebus of Bibendum Wines and wine writer Jancis Robinson.
Application form: jancisrobinson.com
Written by Adam Lechmere15 January 2002