List properties

Hotel chains are not generally known for setting trends when it comes to wine. Their wine lists rarely excite, and are often dominated by a ho-hum line-up of bulk-order blends. And if you want to drink wine in your room, there's usually only a pitiful choice in the minibar. But then, you probably haven't checked in to a Millennium & Copthorne (M&C) hotel recently.

For the past month, guests at all 17 M&C hotels in the UK have been choosing from a 65-strong line of wines sourced directly from around the globe. And to point you in the right direction, the list is broken up into helpful categories: light, dry white wines; fruity and grapey white wines; fuller-bodied unoaked dry white wines; full-bodied oak-matured dry white wines; light, fruity red wines; medium-bodied distinctive red wines; and full-bodied robust red wines.

And no fewer than 16 of these wines are available in every room. Not in the minibar, but on a separate list, called simply "Wine in Your Room". You just call room service and they'll send you up a glass - or three.

If you're lucky, you'll get one of the list's creators, M&C's food and beverage director, Jacques Catanossi, at the other end of the phone. But don't try and get away with just asking him for a glass of house red - Catanossi is quick to take the bait. "How about trying something else?" he'll ask. "Do you like big, fruity wines? Or maybe something lighter? Or what about something rich and velvety - a Zinfandel, yes, you'll like that."

In the short time it has been in action, Wine in Your Room has become a hugely popular service, especially among lone female guests who, it seems, still shy away from drinking solo in the bar or restaurant. The larger 250ml glass size hasn't raised so much as an eyebrow - in fact, it has been welcomed. "Guests can make one big glass last through their starters and their main course if they are eating in their room," says Catanossi.

And while we're on the subject of glasses, here's another UK hotel-chain first: the 25 wines available by the glass - from a Pays d'Oc Merlot at £3.15 (175ml, Lamidor) to £4.95 for the house bubbly (125ml, Champagne Drappier Carte Blanche) - are kept fresh under a blanket of gas using the Private Reserve wine preservation system.

Then there's the comprehensive wine training programme for key hotel staff (more of which later), and the forthcoming series of "free" wine dinners for regular guests, where they get to meet the growers. "We're planning one a month," says Catanossi, "but if there is a great demand, then there's no reason why we can't do two or three."

The hotel chain is only one month into the new list, yet sales are up significantly against this time last year - "by 10%," confirms M&C's business analyst, David Lane. He adds: "The provinces have also seen a remarkable increase in beverage sales - the Millennium Gloucester, particularly."

So who's responsible for this hotel-chain wine revolution? Chief operating officer Tony Potter is the man. He thought it was about time that someone took the hotel's wine buying in hand. "All our hotels had different wine lists," he explains. "I decided it was time to centralise the buying - and take advantage of the fact that the whole wine market has been changing dramatically over the past few years. Customers now are pretty well educated about wine. People aren't frightened by it any more. So, we thought, ‘Let's make the wine list more interesting.' We know that many of our guests won't drink a whole bottle; and that half-bottles are too expensive to produce; and that I wanted fine wines by the glass and quality wines by the glass - so we sat down and decided how we could do this."

He had some help, of course, quite a lot of it in the shape of Master of Wine Anthony Byrne, of Anthony Byrne Fine Wines, the sole supplier for this venture. "We chose Byrne because he has a great relationship with growers," says Potter.

Individually sourced

Not that the wines were chosen directly from Byrne's own list. "Each wine has been individually sourced from the vineyard directly - a rare departure for a hotel company," boasts Potter. And in some cases - for the French contingent at least - Byrne, Potter and Catanossi hit the road, visiting and tasting their way through samples galore from Ay to the Aude.

Take the Chablis, for example. The trio scoured Burgundy for a suitable Chablis. "Now, I know Chablis," says Catanossi, who used to work at the Martinez in Cannes, where (French) guests would happily pay up to £70 for a bottle of Chablis. "I prefer my Chablis more steely, but your average British wine drinker wants something more approachable. And they want value for money - they don't want to pay much more than £25. So, finding the right one was more difficult than I thought. We tasted through 350 Chablis in one day." They chose Domaine Brocard, the 1999, at £25.50 a bottle (£14 a half-bottle), described on the list thus: "A highly acclaimed winemaker producing a classic Chardonnay style; appley fruit with a mineral edge associated with top Chablis."

They got through 5,000 wines in all before coming up with the final 65, which will change every six months to a year. Potter says: "We want people to say, ‘We can't wait to see the next list'."

About every five entries or so is a "signature wine", with a photo and signature of the winemaker or producer, available by the 175ml and 250ml glass, and by the bottle. This may sound a little cheesy, but it's already proving a hit with guests, says Lane, their eyes being drawn to the wines, which range from a South African Sauvignon Blanc from the Robertson Winery (Wide River, £3.65 for a 175ml glass, £5.25 for a 250ml glass, £15.75 for a bottle) to a 1998 Rioja Crianza from Bodegas Lan (£4.60, £6.60, £19.75).

Lane's figures throw up another piece of news - that Viognier is winning the day, with 14% of all "signature" wine sales (there are 10 in all) bearing out the industry prediction that Viognier is the new Chardonnay. The Viognier - 2000 Les Chevalerets, Vin de Pays d'Oc (£3.85, £5.50, £16.50) - is one of Catanossi's favourites, and another wine he deliberated over in the cellar. "We got down to the last five barrels and I chose this one - and they love it," he beams.

As there are no sommeliers in any of the hotels, it's up to the list to tempt customers away from the obvious, with a little prodding from the restaurant staff. "We didn't want a list the staff couldn't use," says Lane. "They have to be able to present it with confidence. Our guests now have far more knowledge about wine than they did - they know what they want."

Those staff members who can prove that they have a grasp of wine, and show enthusiasm, get to go on a three-day residential wine course and, among other more academic activities, get to taste through each wine on the list. "We want to be known as a hotel group that trains staff in wine," says Potter. "It will help staff turnover and it will motivate, not to mention attracting staff in the first place. I think it will pay off."

Having successfully completed the course, employees are allowed to carry the title of "Wine Champion", signified by a small badge worn on the lapel. Catanossi is particularly proud of the badge, a miniature "tastevin" - the cup worn on a chain around the neck of many a sommelier. "I spotted them in Burgundy," he says.

Potter aims, eventually, to have three Wine Champions in each hotel restaurant. "We're not going to suddenly stop this," he says. "Anyone walking in to any of our restaurants can expect a level of proficiency in wine from staff which could handle most clients."

And what of wine in M&C's other hotels worldwide? "There's no reason why we couldn't go global with this," says Potter. "We've just got to get it right here first."

Millennium & Copthorne Hotels

Hotels worldwide: 89
UK hotels: 17
Wines by the glass: 25
Wines on the list: 65
Wines in the room: 16
Group spend on wine: more than £1m annually
House wine: no "house" wine, but six "Good Value Wines from throughout the world"
Food and beverage director, Europe: Jacques Catanossi