The Geoffrey Roberts Trust has £3000 (approximately US$5000) to give away. The annual Geoffrey Roberts Award is an international travel bursary given to a potential achiever in the worlds of food, drink or hospitality.
The committee of the Geoffrey Roberts Trust, a UK-registered charity established in memory of a pioneer importer of fine New World wines, is now seeking applications for the 2002 Award, deadline 29 March 29 2002.
Previous winners have included Jane Adams who played an important part in introducing the farmers' market concept to Sydney, Australia; Peter Kindel who travelled round Europe with Caroline Smialek researching farmhouse cheese production and is now big cheese at Artisanal, Manhattan's haven for cheese-lovers; and South African Kate Thal who is using her bursary to research organic wine production and has been running the wine division of a major London restaurant group.
The 2001 entries came from eight different countries and the winner was Dru Reschke, a 26-year-old whose family has farmed in Coonawarra, South Australia for several generations and now makes its own wine. He wants to develop his potentially extremely valuable scheme for processing toxic winery effluent using enzyme research. He plans to travel to the US to see how winery effluent is managed by the big California companies and to survey wine tourism there with a view to improving wine tourism back home in Coonawarra. News of his Award reached him on his father's 60th birthday, so it was announced to all and sundry at the celebrations at Coonawarra Town Hall that night.
Runners up included Patrick Farrell, MD, MW, a California doctor who wants to write a book about wine and health; Fiona Bird, Scottish mother of six who is keen to encourage more children to cook; and a lively 20-year-old, Teh Peijing, who wants to broaden the range of wines imported into Singapore.
The judges were James Herrick of the Languedoc, David Brown of La Potinière and John Mariani of New York, as well as committee members Sally Clarke of Clarke's restaurant in London W8, Willie Lebus of Bibendum Wines and wine writer Jancis Robinson.
Applications are invited from anyone of any age, based anywhere in the world, who can convince us that while spending this travel bursary they will learn something that will improve the worlds of food, drink or hospitality.
For more details and an application form, see www.jancisrobinson.com/geoffreyroberts or contact the Hon Secretary of the Geoffrey Roberts Trust, Venetia Lebus, 103 Strathbourne Road, London SW17 8RA (fax +44 20 8767 2201) or email GeoffreyRobertsA@aol.com.
