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Laura Rhys (Hotel Terravina) wins inaugral Young Sommeliers Competition

The grand finals of the first international Young Sommeliers Competition in Great Britain took place on Thursday 5 June in the showrooms of Gaggenau in London.

The competition is open to any young person in the wine or restaurant trade working in a Chaîne des Rotisseurs establishment and is run to a similar format to the Master Sommelier examinations.

A great success, the quality of the candidates made for a tough competition, with Laura Rhys (Hotel Terravina, Wessex Bailliage) winning the day.

The results are:

• First place - Laura Rhys (Hotel Terravina, Wessex Bailliage)
• Second place - Daniel Kubini (Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Thames Valley Bailliage)
• Joint third place - Anthony Guire (Le Poussin, Wessex Bailliage) and Christopher Gallen (Bon Auberge, Bailliage de Scotland)

The international finals will take place on 24 October in Vienna, Austria.

GB Grand Chapitre

A very large contingent of Wessex members attended the GB Grand Chapitre held in the Solent. Friday night on board HMS Warrior was a really different occasion and a real challenge to serve 150 people for dinner.

Many new members were intronised on Saturday at the De Vere Grand Harbour in Southampton, then attended the Gala Dinner.

Three appointments were made: Gerard Basset was appointed National Echanson, Mike Attenborough-Cox as Bailli de Wessex and Norman Wallage as Vice Charge de Missions.

The final event of the weekend was again a memorable meal afloat - this time as guests of P&O on their ship Oceana. All of P&O cruising ships have staff who are members of the Chaine and the host for the lunch was Neal Martin, Director, Hospitality and Catering.

New appointments

Mike Attenborough-Cox becomes our Bailli, as our founding Bailli, Philip Evins, has been appointed Bailli Delegue for Grande Bretagne.

We give our best wishes to Philip as he takes over responsibility for Great Britain and Ireland, and thank him for leading the creation of the Bailliage and growing it to be the second largest in the country after London in our short history. Luckily, his skills will not be lost as he will remain on the management team as Bailli Honoraire.

Mike was one of the earliest members of the Bailliage, and he and Joan amongst the most regular attendees. Mike's abilities have been amply demonstrated in other voluntary activities in Hampshire in which he has been associated and we look forward to continued growth of the Bailliage under his leadership.

Hotel Terravina

The New Forest's latest hotel, the Terravina, is the brainchild of Gerard and Nina Basset. Gerard was one of the founders of the Hotel du Vin chain of hotels and he brings that flair for good food with great wines to this hotel, together with a relaxed modern Californian ambiance.

Gerard, both a Master Sommelier and Master of Wine, also winner of many National, European and International Sommelier Competitions, is very positive about their association with the Chaîne:

"The Chaîne's members are typical of our target clientel and the Chaîne's interest in helping the industry through both cooking and sommelier competitions helps raise the profile of good restaurants and their staff."