The Best of the Best: The Gérard Basset Foundation

The Gérard Basset Foundation was set up to honour the legacy of one extraordinary man. Gérard Basset OBE MS MW MBA OIV MSc ASI World Champion. He was a true wine lover and a champion of the industry. He lived and breathed this world, and was possessed of a rare talent that, along with all the rigor and hard work required of any expert and enjoyed by any enthusiast, led him to become one of the greatest wine professionals of his generation.

He was one of the first to hold the excruciatingly challenging Master of Wine qualification simultaneously with the Master Sommelier, Bordeaux KEDGE Wine MBA and the OIV MSc; an achievement that is unlikely to be repeated for years to come. The crowning glory of his career came in April 2010 when he won the ASI World Sommelier Championship (Santiago, Chile), cementing his extraordinary success within the industry. This was further augmented on receiving an OBE in the 2011 Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to hospitality and again in March 2013 when he joined the ranks of the wine elite as Decanter’s Man of the Year.  Not long before his untimely passing, he was made Chevalier of the Mérite Agricole by the French Minister of Agriculture.

Parallel to this success was a growing business empire that many only dream of, for Gérard was a founding partner of the hugely successful Hotel du Vin Group, which grew to six hotels before it was sold ten years after its inception. During his ten years at the helm, Gérard mentored and trained a generation of young sommeliers who sought out his expertise and guidance to launch their own careers. He continued this mentoring at Hotel TerraVina, the  award winning, boutique, wine-themed hotel which he ran for a further 12 years with his wife, Nina. Many of his proteges have gone on to win industry awards, and more still to launch their own successful businesses on the back of their experience working with Gérard and, specifically, their grounding under Gérard’s tutelage.

For a person with so many acronyms and accolades after their name, Gérard’s focus was always on the importance of education and helping facilitate the betterment of others, which in turn would help the industry as a whole. This is precisely why the Gérard Basset Foundation was founded. Gérard understood that any industry benefits from its people, and that diversity, inclusivity and equity brings new, fresh perspectives and talent to an industry that has long been considered somewhat stuck in its ways. By addressing the wine, spirits & hospitality industry’s most pressing issues through education, training & mentorship, the Gérard Basset Foundation is working to empower a whole host of new wine students, scholars, bursary recipients and grantees, supporting them as they build and progress successful careers. They are enabled in this quest, thanks to the generosity of The Golden Vines® Awards and Auctions, which donate all of the funds raised from an annual Live as well as Fine Wine, Rare Spirit & Experience Auctions directly to The Foundation.

Over the past two years, The Foundation has received over £2 million in charitable donations and funded over 55 scholarships and bursaries across more than 15 countries and over 20 nationalities, totalling approximately £480,000 and also awarded funds totaling approximately £875,000 to grantees, of which there were 16 in 2021, growing to 18 in 2022, many of whom we have supported across both years.

In 2023 and future years, the GBF hopes to continue to build on these excellent foundations. With a new round of scholarships recently announced, its grantee programme growing across the globe, the GBF is set to continue to help many who otherwise could not further their education and careers in wine, spirits or hospitality.

Nina Basset says….

“Gérard would be so amazed, delighted and humbled by all that has continued to be achieved in his honour over these past years. His legacy very much lives on, and Romané and I are overwhelmed to see the tremendous love and respect in which he continues to be held by so many in the world of wine”.

The 2023 Golden Vines® Awards takes place in Paris, France 13-15th October: https://liquidicons.com/work/golden-vines-awards

You can find more information on The Gérard Basset Foundation here: https://gerardbassetfoundation.org/