Television presenter Phillip Schofield (nominated with co-presenter Fern Britton for a Royal Televison Society Award later this month) is a very serious wine lover with a very serious cellar who has done some wonderful work on behalf of this year's Wine Relief. My enterprising fellow wine writer Fiona Beckett writes about his scheme to allow youthful wine lovers a taste of Mouton 2000:
I thought your readers might like to know that we've got a very special bottle to auction for Wine Relief on my student food and drink website www.beyondbakedbeans.com. It's a bottle of Mouton Rothschild 2000 which has been generously offered by Phillip Schofield from his private cellar. He will present it in person to whoever comes up with the highest bid by midnight on Red Nose Day [fri 11 may 05] – once we've cleared the cheque or counted the notes!
It might seem a bizarre idea to offer it to students but in my experience students are more than willing to dig into their pockets for a good cause. And they can always club together to put in a bid. I firmly believe that tasting an outstanding wine early on in your drinking career is one of the things that gives you a love of wine for life.
Details of how to apply for the bottle are on the website home page and under the 'Best Buys' page (click on Tips and Deals).
Non-students are not disqualified from bidding but I hope a student or group of students will win the prize. Or that a parent might put in a bid for a student son or daughter.
