Champagne Jacquart Rising Stars Trophy for The Harrow at Little Bedwyn

A 16-year-old chef and her sommelier colleague triumphed at this year’s Grand Final of the Champagne Jacquart Rising Stars Trophy 2010 against chefs up to 35 years old. The team from Harrow at Little Bedwyn, which has one Michelin star, Heather McKnight, 24, and Jaillin Argent, 16, produced a glittering display of teamwork with exceptional cooking and wine-matching ability. The only-female team to make the Grand Final, McKnight and Argent were considered to the very epitome of rising stars by the judges, as McKnight breezed through her interview during which she was grilled on her wine knowledge and attitude towards working with a kitchen team. During the Grand Final, which was held at Westminster Kingsway College in London, Argent produced three dishes in one hour and 15 minutes using ingredients that she had personally foraged, including tapping sap of a birch tree to use as a cleansing shot as part of her lamb main course.