A definitive charity set up to honour the legacy and memory of Gérard Basset OBE MW MS MBA OIV MSc ASI World Champion
About Gérard Basset & The Foundation
Gérard Basset (7th March 1957 – 16th January 2019) OBE MS MW MBA OIV MSc ASI World Champion was without question one of the greatest wine professionals of a generation. He was the first and only individual 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 domination of 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. Most recently 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 to Malmaison for £66 million. 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. Many have gone on to win industry awards and more still to launch their own successful businesses on the back of their experience at Hotel du Vin and, specifically, their grounding under Gérard.
Watch the Documentary, A Life in Wine: Gérard Basset, The World’s Favourite Sommelier
Buy Tasting Victory: The Life and Wines of the World’s Favourite Sommelier
© Photo by Mirentxu Bellet
The Story
Two friends had a vision to set up a company and “do stuff in wine”… Those friends were Gérard Basset and Lewis Chester, and the company was called Liquid Icons. Whilst they visited vineyards and tasted many great wines together, the other “stuff” they had hoped to do never happened, as Gérard sadly became ill and their ambitions for the company had to be put on hold.
Thus, following Gérard’s untimely and premature death, his wife Nina and son Romané, along with Lewis, were inspired to continue his legacy and do the “stuff” that they thought Gérard would approve of. With the unstinting support of Lewis Chester, Alexander ‘Sasha’ Lushnikov and the Liquid Icons team, a charitable foundation was created in Gérard’s name: The Gérard Basset Foundation. Trustees Jancis Robinson and Ian Harris joined Nina, Romané and Lewis in setting up many varied initiatives to honour Gérard’s legacy, all with the aim of making the wine, spirits and hospitality worlds fairer and more inclusive.
As time has progressed, and the Foundation grows, roles have changed and diversified. Now, under the guise of Liquid Icons Productions, Lewis and Sasha and their team are the Foundation’s main benefactors, who generously donate funds to the Foundation annually through the Golden Vines® Fine Wine, Rare Spirit & Experience Global Online Charity Auction. In recent years, they have been joined by Liv Woodhouse, Clément Robert and Philip Sheikh, and we thank them all for their generosity and hard work in raising funds for the Foundation and enabling us to have a profound and positive impact on many individuals in the wine, spirits and hospitality industries.
As the Foundation continues to grow and seeks to bring the positive impact of its funding and work to evermore facets of our industry, we have been delighted to welcome Lulie Halstead as our CEO and Christian Holthausen as our Head of Communications, both of whom were dear friends of Gérard’s and share our passion for continuing his legacy of mentorship, education and creating opportunities for talented individuals to thrive.
Gérard had no idea that a Foundation would be created in his honour, but we like to think that he would very much approve, and be very proud of the work we are doing and the people we help and support.
Thank you to all who enable us to help make a difference.
The Funding Mandate
The Gérard Basset Foundation empowers diversity, equity & inclusion for wine, spirits and hospitality professionals by funding education, learning & career enhancing programmes internationally.
Our Grantee programme supports a range of projects aimed at a diverse range of communities & individuals at the earlier stages of their careers, delivered by 30 organisations located in 15 countries, ranging in size and scope from grassroots non-profits to globally renowned research institutions.
Our Scholarship programmes support those undertaking higher level qualifications, including the Master of Wine & Master Sommelier certifications. Since our founding in 2021, we have supported 66 scholarship and bursary recipients, comprising 28 nationalities and living in 23 countries globally.
Through these programmes combined, we have reached 1,200 beneficiaries around the world since our founding.
The Funding
The Foundation is mandated to fund educational and professional programmes focused on supporting diversity, equity & inclusion in wine, spirits & hospitality internationally.
Our mission is to provide funding for programmes that significantly enhance the career opportunities of those that they support. We fund credible programmes that support a diverse range of communities including:
Cultural & socio-economic diversity
Ethnic diversity
Religious diversity
Gender diversity
Sexual orientation diversity
Disability diversity
Whilst our Scholarships primarily support those undertaking higher level qualifications e.g. MW & MS, our Grantee programme seeks to support a broader range of communities & individuals at earlier stages in their career journey.
To date, we have supported 66 varied Scholars and Bursary Recipients since our founding in 2021. These scholars comprise 28 different nationalities, living and working in 23 different countries across 6 of the world's continents. In addition to these Scholarships, we have supported 30 Grantees in 16 different countries across 6 of the world's continents. The Grantees comprise organisations ranging from grass-roots non-profits to globally renowned research institutions, and each project which we support with them fulfils our mandate of promoting diversity and inclusion in the wine, spirits and hospitality industries.
Who The Foundation supports
Our Grantee programme supports a range of projects aimed at a diverse range of communities & individuals at the earlier stages of their careers, delivered by 30 organisations located in 15 countries, ranging in size and scope from grassroots non-profits to globally renowned research institutions.
Our Scholarship programmes support those undertaking higher level qualifications, including the Master of Wine & Master Sommelier certifications. Since our founding in 2021, we have supported 66 scholarship and bursary recipients, comprising 28 nationalities and living in 23 countries globally.
Through these programmes combined, we have reached 1,200 beneficiaries around the world since our founding. Here are some of their stories, in their own words.
The Supporters
Liquid Icons – Our Founding Benefactor
We would like to give special thanks to Liquid Icons Productions for their constant support of the Gérard Basset Foundation since our founding in 2021.
Co-Founded by Lewis Chester DipWSET, a dear friend of our namesake and fellow Co-Founder Gérard Basset OBE MS MW, and entrepreneur Alexander Lushnikov, Liquid Icons has since 2021 organised the annual Golden Vines® Awards, recognising and celebrating the world’s greatest wines and spirits.
As a part of these amazing Awards, for the last 3 years Liquid Icons has organised simultaneously an annual Golden Vines® Fine Wine, Rare Spirit & Experience Global Online Charity Auction, the proceeds of which are donated in their entirety to the Gérard Basset Foundation and which enable us to do our work of making the wine, spirits and hospitality industries more diverse, more equitable and more inclusive through our Grantee and Scholarship Programmes.
Without the support of Liquid Icons, and in particular the hard work of Lewis Chester and Alexander Lushnikov, who were both instrumental in setting up the Gérard Basset Foundation as Co-Founding Partners and who enabled us to begin delivering on our mandate, we would not have been able to have supported the 1,200 beneficiaries that we have so far.