Gerard Basset Foundation to broaden diversity & inclusion funding into global spirits and hospitality industry
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PRESS RELEASE
14 SEPTEMBER 2021 | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Nina Basset, Trustee of The Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation, is pleased to announce both a change in the name of the Foundation and its mandate. Going forward the Foundation will be known simply as Gerard Basset Foundation. Further, whereas the Foundation was set up to focus on funding wine education programmes principally to promote diversity & inclusion in the wine world, from 2022, it will now broaden its approach to include both the spirits and hospitality sectors.
Nina Basset commented: “Gerard was known not only as a wine man, but also for his successful career as a hotelier within the hospitality sector, having co-founded Hotel du Vin in 1994 and mentored so many of today’s most esta
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blished restaurateurs and sommeliers. It is, therefore, right and fitting that the Foundation should branch out not only to the wine industry, but also to the world of spirits and hospitality.”
The Foundation’s work has been transformed by the fund-raising efforts of Liquid Icons – the fine wine research and content production company co-founded by Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and his friend Lewis Chester DipWSET – through the Golden Vines Awards Ceremony & Dinner and its related charity auctions. The 2021 Golden Vines will be held at Annabel’s Private Members Club on Thursday 7th October. The Golden Vines Fine Wine, Rare Spirit & Experience Auction will open for bidding on September 23rd and close on 7th October. The auction will be available to anyone, anywhere in the world through an Catalogue using WPA technology. The auction Catalogue can be accessed through the following link:
The Foundation hopes to raise over £1 million from this online auction. Some of those funds have already been allocated, including to the headline Golden Vines Diversity Scholarships, worth £55,000 each and awarded to 2 students from a diversity background to undertake the Master of Wine or Master Sommelier qualifications, as well as an incredible 12-month internship programme at some of the world’s finest wine estates and distilleries in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. The Foundation is also planning to fund a large number of institutional and community partners to promote diversity & inclusion wine education programmes globally.
The Foundation has 5 Trustees. Alongside Nina Basset FIH, her son, Romané, Lewis Chester DipWSET, Ian Harris MBE DipWSET and Jancis Robinson OBE MW are responsible for determining which projects to fund and ensuring that the Foundation’s mandate is fulfilled.
– ENDS –
The Golden Vines Fine Wine, Rare Spirit & Experience Global Online Auction
23 September – 7 October 2021
Auction Catalogue available here:
All funds raised in benefit of Gerard Basset Foundation
to support diversity & inclusion in wine (Charity Registration Number: 1193020)
Image Library available in link here:
Notes to Editor:
About Gerard Basset Foundation:
Set up to honour the legacy and memory of Gerard Basset OBE MW MS by addressing the wine industry’s most pressing issues through education, training & mentorship, the Gerard Basset Foundation comprises a multidisciplinary team of industry-leading professionals as its Trustees: Nina Basset FIH, Romané Basset, Lewis Chester DipWSET, Ian Harris MBE DipWSET, and Jancis Robinson OBE MW.
Note: The Gerard Basset Wine Education Charitable Foundation recently changed its name to Gerard Basset Foundation.
https://gerardbassetfoundation.org
About Liquid Icons:
Liquid Icons is a fine wine research and content production company founded by two friends to “do stuff in wine” – the late, great Gerard Basset OBE MW MS and Lewis Chester DipWSET. We create first-class original content and research about the world’s greatest fine wines and spirits. Our work encompasses motion picture, industry research, recognition and celebration of wine and spirits excellence, charitable and fundraising activities, as well as educational initiatives. https://liquidicons.com
