Caterer and Hotelkeeper – 22143

Winning women

Heidi Allen has scooped the 1996 Moât & Chandon Scholarship award.

Currently studying for an HCIMA Diploma in Hotel & Catering Management at Oxford Brookes University, Allen will go on to spend a week in Champagne and Cognac, plus a total of four weeks shadowing the management teams of the Master Innholder Judges at the Gleneagles Hotel, the Stafford, the Lygon Arms and Le Talbooth.

The inaugural Geoffrey Roberts Award has been won by Diana Campbell of the Alliance Wine Company, Beith, Ayrshire. Among the judges were chef Sally Clarke, wine writer Hugh Johnson, the Savoy Hotel's Ram¢n Pajares and broadcaster Jancis Robinson.

Campbell will use the travel bursary - worth £2,000 - to take the Culinary Institute of America's Food and Wine Dynamics course in California next month. She plans to use what she learns to "improve Scottish chefs' understanding of matching wine and food".

Ten-grand tipple

Scottish hotelier David Birrell has bought a rare bottle of Macallan60 Year Old Scotch for £10,000 "to ensure that it remains in its native country". He was prompted by the purchase of a bottle of the Scotch by a Japanese visitor.

Macallan's managing director, Willie Phillips, hailed Birrell as"a latter-day Braveheart".

Chilean changeover

Chilean winery Errazuriz has announced that its famed chief winemaker from New Zealand, Brian Bicknell, is heading home to join Seresin Estate in Marlborough.

But Errazuriz has lined up Ed Flaherty, from the Cono Sur winery, to take Bicknell's place at the vats.

Fortified marketing

Allied Domecq Spirits & Wine is going into full marketing overdrive with campaigns and a new corporate structure "which is designed to bring added focus to the future development of the spirits, liqueurs and fortified wines categories".

The company will invest more in marketing and developing its core brands, which include Teacher's Scotch whisky, Courvoisier, Tia Maria, Harveys sherries and Cockburn port.

Also, a new single sales and marketing company is being formed to "enhance the company's approach to customer service, category management and brand development."

Water into wine

"Alcoholic spring water" with a 5% abv is hitting the bars and clubs. DNA is a bit more than just water with a blast of alcohol, though - it has a naturally fermented wine base with slight lime and thyme flavours. It is available in 330ml screw-top glass bottles, 24 to a case. Call Herres UK on 01438 820955.