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OCTOBER NEWS attle Children's Hospital and the Washington State University Viticulture & Enology Program. The top lot of the auction gala was a South African safari offered by Betz Family Winery that sold for $58,000. Bethel Heights hires national sales director Nels Becker is the new national sales director for Bethel Heights Vineyard Inc. of Salem, Ore. Becker is the former national sales director of Gruet Winery in Albuquerque, N.M. C E N T RAL Diageo invests in Illinois bottling plant Diageo North America announced in early August it had completed a $120 million investment in its bottling facility in Plainfield, Ill. The center currently bottles approximately 31 million cases of Diageo products per year. In addition to three high-speed lines, the Plainfield location is also home to Diageo North America's brand technical center, which "helps to turn new liquid and packaging ideas into commercial products," according to a statement by Diageo. Texas winery hires Chilean winemaker Sergio Cuadra is the new winemaker for Fall Creek Vineyards in Tow, Texas. Cuadra worked for 19 years in the Chilean wine industry, spending a Sergio decade with Concha y Cuadra Toro. Most recently he was the winemaker at Anakena Wines in Santiago, Chile. Details: fcv.com. St. Julian winemaker honored Purdue University announced that Nancie Corum-Oxley, head winemaker at St. Julian Wine Co., in Paw Paw, Mich., would receive the school's Outstanding Food Science Award in a ceremony to be held Oct. 10. Recipients of the award are Purdue alumni who have demonstrated excellence in food science. Corum-Oxley joined St. Julian in 2002 as lab manager and enologist; after a series of promotions she became head winemaker in 2010. Detail: stjulian.com. Top winners in Michigan competition The judging panel of the Michigan Wine Competition tasted 450 wines from 55 of the state's wineries and awarded "best of class" honors to six wines from a group of 42 gold medal winners. The top wines were: Black Star Farms 2012 BeDazzled (sparkling), Chateau Fontaine 2012 Pinot Blanc (dry white), Peninsula Cellars 2011 Cabernet Franc (dry red), Boathouse Vineyards 2012 Knot Too Sweet Riesling (semi-dry white), Karma Vista Vineyards 2012 Devils Head Red (semi-dry red) and Brys Estate 2011 Dry Ice Riesling Ice Wine (dessert wine). Stone Hill wins top honors in Missouri Stone Hill Wine Co.'s 2011 Norton won top honors at this year's Missouri Wine Competition. The wine received Best of Class for dry red, the C.V. Riley award for best Norton and The Governor's Cup for the best wine of the year. Details: stonehillwinery.com. 24 W in es & V i ne s O C TOB E R 20 13