Hampshire: TerraVina owner is best sommelier

Gerard Basset, one of the country’s best known sommeliers and owner of Hotel TerraVina in Hampshire, has won the Association de la Sommellerie Internationale (ASI) World’s Best Sommelier Competition, held in Chile this month.

Basset is now officially the best sommelier in the world.

The competition attracted candidates from each of the ASI’s 41 member countries, and consisted of rigorous written and practical exams, including blind tastings and service role plays to test the candidates’ knowledge of wine, spirits, and other beverages, cigars, and food and wine pairing, as well as their service skills to determine the winner of the competition. It is very well known that the competition is hard, intense and demands complete dedication and commitment to the industry.

French-born Basset, one of the co-founders of the successful Hotel du Vin chain, has the distinction of being the only person in the world who is a master of wine, master sommelier and who has the Wine MBA.

He moved to England 27 years ago, becoming head sommelier at Chewton Glen, the Michelin-starred hotel in Hampshire. In 1989 he won UK Sommelier of the Year. 1992 he won the Best International Sommelier for French Wines (Paris). In 1996 he won the Best Sommelier of Europe and in 1998, he qualified as a Master of Wine.

Basset said: “I am absolutely delighted and completely overwhelmed to have won. It’s been a long hard road with many many hours of training for the competition – but to be crowned the World Champion is beyond words."

The Academy of Food and Wine said: “We are so pleased that Gerard has won this very prestigious accolade – he is a true ambassador for the UK and his achievements are exemplary. We recognise how hard he’s worked to win this championship, and he really does deserve to win.”